54 Haitians Were Repatriated in Error, Probe Finds

WASHINGTON — U.S. immigration officials mistakenly repatriated 54 Haitian boat people who should have been granted temporary refuge in the United States, congressional investigators said Thursday.

The investigation by the General Accounting Office, a congressional watchdog agency, said “administrative weaknesses” led to the alleged mistaken repatriations.

But the head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service said that a review of the records has not turned up any Haitian who was sent back to Haiti by mistake.

Harold Johnson, a top GAO official, presented the findings to a subcommittee of the House Committee on Government Operations.

In the 54 cases, he said, immigration officials “determined that the individuals had credible claims of having suffered persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution.” In other cases, he said, some Haitians had relatives in the United States and were eligible to join them.

INS Commissioner Gene McNary said officials had checked out 40 of the 54 cases and discovered clerical errors but no erroneous repatriations. The remaining 14 cases are being reviewed, he said.