Convicted felon again is in line for deportation

The last time Shoodley Lee Cherichel seemed destined for deportation to Haiti, a massive earthquake on the island nation put all deportations on hold. Now, a year later, Cherichel's removal to Haiti again appears imminent -- and he again may avoid deportation because of catastrophe.

A massive cholera epidemic that has stricken 200,000 Haitians and killed 4,000 may also have killed two of 27 people recently returned to Haiti after the United States resumed deportations in January. Advocates, including the ACLU and church leaders, are pressing federal officials to suspend deportations of illegal Haitian immigrants -- many of whom have criminal convictions in the United States -- until the epidemic has subsided.

"I'm not sure his deportation is actually going to take place," said Kim Hunter, a local immigration attorney who represents Cherichel, a onetime Minnesota resident who is one of about 700 Haitians convicted of crimes whom U.S. officials plan to deport this year.

Cherichel was convicted in February 2005 for causing the death of his girlfriend, Tracey Anne Mastel, when the car they were in rolled off the road and landed upside down in a pond. Cherichel spent 32 months in a Minnesota prison for that crime.

He has spent most of the past four years in local jails, awaiting -- and fighting -- deportation to Haiti. His appeal claimed that deplorable prison conditions there amounted to torture.

Last year, the Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Cherichel, saying that while prisons there are terrible, they do not constitute torture because there is no proof Haitian authorities intend to torture him.

But on Jan. 12, 2010, the very day that the appellate court ruled, a massive earthquake shook the island and damaged the main prison there, prompting the United States to suspend deportations.

Deportations resume

In January, ICE flew 27 Haitians back to their home country.

"ICE is legally required to repatriate criminal aliens to their country of origin or release them into U.S. communities if their repatriation is not reasonably foreseeable," ICE spokeswoman Barbara Gonzalez said.

But one of those deportees died of cholera-like symptoms after spending eight days in a Haitian jail. Hunter said she believes another repatriated Haitian also has died.

The deaths have prompted immigrant advocates to urge the Obama administration to hold off on deporting any Haitians until cholera is no longer a threat. Those calls have been joined by the ACLU and a Florida congresswoman, according to news reports.

Shawn Neudauer, spokesman for the local ICE office, confirmed Cherichel's continued detention. He would not say when he is scheduled to be deported, other than that "his deportation is imminent."

It is still possible that those plans could be delayed, however, and that Cherichel could return to Minnesota. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that ICE is legally required to release criminal noncitizens into U.S. communities if repatriation to their country of origin is not reasonably foreseeable after 180 days of detention.