Vigil held for Haitian facing deportation

CENTRAL FALLS - Josue Theodore's family says his imprisonment is a mistake. The federal Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement says his mere presence here violates a deportation order issued nearly three years ago, which Theodore never appealed.

Regardless of who's right, it's clear Theodore will be missed if he is forced to leave.

The 32-year-old Pawtucket resident and Haitian national, who leads a youth choir at Elmwood Avenue Church of God in Providence, has been at the Donald W. Wyatt Detention Facility since immigration authorities detained him five weeks ago. Last night, Theodore's supporters assembled near the prison to pray for his release and to draw attention to his case.

In the five years Theodore has led the choir, it has grown to 60 members, and the young singers rarely miss a rehearsal, Providence resident Valerie Eugene, a choir member and youth leader at the church, said.

"When he's around, he sings, he gets people to dance, to get up off their feet," Eugene said. "It's quiet now. There's a big difference with him not around."

Theodore's brother, Nehemy Theodore, said Josue Theodore arrived in Miami from Haiti in August 2000 on a visitor's visa, and applied for asylum as the Caribbean island nation, the poorest in the Western Hemisphere, sank deeper into political turmoil.

Theodore moved to Rhode Island believing he'd been granted asylum, and never received a summons sent to his Miami address, Nehemy Theodore said. He said his brother was surprised when, during a traffic stop in Pawtucket last month, the police found an active warrant for his arrest.

Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said an immigration judge issued a deportation order on Jan. 31, 2003.

Josue Theodore's wife, Beverly, is a U.S. citizen, but they've only been married a year, so that order would predate their marriage, meaning Beverly Theodore would need to file a petition to get her husband permission to reenter the United States -- an uphill battle if he has already been deported.

Gonzalez said the bureau does not disclose scheduled deportation dates for security reasons, but that Theodore's removal from the country was "imminent." His family has hired an immigration lawyer to fight it.

As the leader of a well-known youth choir that traveled in and out of state to perform, Theodore wasn't exactly keeping a low profile. He also helped run the music program at Hillsgrove United Methodist Church in Warwick. Theodore's picture appeared in the newspaper last year, when he played the Haitian and American national anthems on the saxophone at Providence City Hall during a celebration of Haitian Flag Day.

"He was working, paying taxes, ministering to youth in the cities," Duane Clinker, the Methodist church's pastor and the leader of last night's vigil, said. "We're not talking about someone who has committed a crime. What is the purpose of this, other than to instill fear?"