79th Street Immigration Building In Miami Is Closing

Many Haitians know this building as "Imigrasyon" or "Nan 79 la."

The spanish people call it "la migra"

See Haiti Immigration Protest Pictures here.

The Immigration and Naturalization Service building at Biscayne Boulevard and Northeast 79th Street in Miami has been, for a long time, the spot where Haitian and non Haitian Immigrants protest unfair immigration and deportation issues.

Here is a clip from a Miami Herald article by Trenton Daniel about the closing of the 79th street immigration building:

Through the years, the building was a magnet for protests, the parking lot across the street serving as the ready-made stage for condemning various controversial immigration issues, including the deportation of Haitians or the 2000 return of Cuban rafter Elián González. As backdrop, the fortress-like building has always kept an imposing presence, the grill facade allowing occupants to peer outside but denying outsiders an inside peek.

One longtime presence on the protest circuit said she had mixed feelings on USCIS vacating.

''It will be a bittersweet moment to see it gone,'' said Marleine Bastien, the executive director of Haitian Women of Miami. ``The building has brought a lot of hope to people -- it's reunited families. At the same time, the long-term struggle that we had to carry out there to get Haitians respected has overshadowed some of the other stuff that occurred at that building.''

I looks like the Haitian community will be gathering at a different location in for future do protest against unfair immigration laws and to stop the deportation of Haitians in the United States.

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