Introducing Jerry Riveros, a 23-year-old Bolivian immigrant.

Flash video:

Jerry described playing the pan pipes as “a conversation” with other musicians. In the video he’s playing with Marin Riveros, Sergio Jimenez and Alvaro Riveros. He said he didn’t appreciate Bolivian music until after he came to the United States. “When I came here, something happened,” he said. “I was missing my country. I think that’s why.”

ArtsWestchester is showcasing the folkloric traditions of local immigrants in its Taste of Latino Culture series. Grupo Ujyuna will be accompanied by Incallajta New York, a Bolivian dance group from Queens. On April 17 the series continues with a Peruvian performance, including tijeras dance and Andean harp and violin. And on May 1, there’s Guatemalan dance, marimba music and art.

The show starts tomorrow at 7:30 p.m.at 31 Mamaroneck Ave. You can find out more at ArtsWestchester’s web site or by calling (914) 428-4220 ext. 223.

The Lower Hudson Valley Chapter of the New York Civil Liberties Union and other organizations are planning a discussion at 7 p.m. March 16 at the Greenburgh Public Library, 300 Tarrytown Road in Elmsford.

UPDATE:
The meeting is changed to WHITE PLAINS HIGH SCHOOL,
ROOM B-1
550 NORTH ST.
WHITE PLAINS, NY 10605
7PM.

Room B-1 can be accessed from North St. After Bryant Ave, there’s a left lane turn at a traffic light on North St. Make the left and proceed straight. The entrance to B-1 is on the left and parking is on the right.

Participating are the Hudson Valley Community Coalition, WESPAC Foundation, Westchester Hispanic Coalition, El Centro Hispano, Hispanic Resource Center, WestCOP, Organization of Chinese Americans, and the LOFT.

Robert M. Morgenthau, the 90-year-old retired Manhattan D.A., made that comment this morning during an interview on the Brian Lehrer Show. He was referring to the U.S.  immigration detention system and describing his motivation to work on the issue. He said undocumented immigrants were being deprived of their constitutional rights, amounting to “a national disgrace” and “a stain on our reputation.”

The problem is not only the laws but the way they are being applied, Morgenthau said. He described a case in which 19 undocumented immigrants cooperated with an investigation that sent a man to jail for fraud. Now the 19 are facing deportation. The interview is linked here.

For the New York Times’ coverage of the detention system, including the efforts to withhold information about deaths in custody, click here.

Flash video:

From left to right are Lirose Supreme of Yonkers, Alen Myrthil of Elmsford, John Dorcinville of Greenburgh and Stephanie Saintil of Yonkers.

The choir will share the stage at the White Plains Performing Arts Center with Guy Davis, guitarist Wali Ali, singer Mala Waldron, flutist Ragan Whiteside, vocalist Lynette Washington and original Atlantic Starr members Porter Carroll and Sharon Bryant.

The choir members told me that their congregation meets to pray for loved ones in Haiti on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights. It remains difficult to communicate by cell phone, and so there is still a lot of confusion, Saintil said. Her mother is sleeping out in the open on the cold ground, she said, and family members are sick from the trauma.

A 19-year-old nursing student at Westchester Community College, Saintil said she is heartbroken that she is not old enough to sponsor her mother as an immigrant to the United States. In the meantime she is working whenever possible to support her mother. “Every time I get something, I try to send it to her,” she said.

For more info check the performing arts center’s web site or call 914-328-1600.

“This type of situation unfortunately makes people vulnerable to scam artists who take advantage of it,” spokeswoman Kate Tichacek said.

The agency sent these links:

USCIS’ guide to finding free legal advice.

A list of accredited organizations from the Justice Department.

How to Avoid Fraud brochure.

The (PDF) brochure in Creole.

Community groups like the Haitian American Cultural and Social Organization are mobilizing to help people in Spring Valley, the surrounding area of Rockland County, N.Y., and back in Haiti. For a story in tomorrow’s paper, I spoke to the executive director, Rose Leandre, who is hoping to line up pro bono legal help for Haitians applying for TPS. Normally the organization has just one staff member dealing with immigration matters.

Tomorrow, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services is coming to Rockland to meet with HACSO and other community groups in a TPS briefing like one held in Manhattan last week. The conference will be at Congressman Eliot Engel’s office in West Nyack.

Meanwhile Leandre had finally received word from her mother, an American citizen who had gone home to Leogane for a visit the day before the Jan. 12 earthquake. The 62-year-old Marie Gabriel had just made her way to the doorway of her home with her cane when the earthquake happened, Leandre said. Leandre’s uncle, who had come to drop something off, was able to pull her to safety before the home collapsed.

“I’m blessed,” Leandre said. “Now it’s time to give back.”

For more about HACSO, click here.

In 2000, there were 5,300 people of Haitian ancestry in Spring Valley, the third largest Haitian population in the area behind New York City, home to 119,000 Haitians, and Irvington, N.J., with 5,800.

Among counties across the nation, Rockland has the nation’s fourth-largest Haitian concentration at 3.5 percent, or 12,000 people as of 2008, behind three South Florida counties.

Other suburban communities with significant Haitian populations in 2000:

Hillcrest (Rockland): 20% or 1,400 people
Nyack (Rockland): 8% or 600 people
South Nyack (Rockland): 8% or 300 people
Pomona (Rockland): 5% or 200 people
Fairview (Westchester): 5% or 110 people
Nanuet (Rockland): 3% or 630 people
West Haverstraw (Rockland): 3% or 380 people
Monsey (Rockland): 3% or 320 people
Mount Ivy (Rockland): 3% or 200 people
New Rochelle (Westchester): 1% or 930 people
Mount Vernon (Westchester): 1% or 825 people
Yonkers (Westchester): less than 1% or 890 people

Top photo: The 17th annual Haitian Day Parade of Unity in Spring Valley May 20, 2007. Angela Gaul/The Journal News. Bottom photo: Volunteers from the Bay Bourad Foundation collect money, food, water and clothing donations Jan 16, 2010 in Spring Valley. Matthew Brown/The Journal News.

The measure does not provide a pathway to citizenship, White Plains attorney Susan Henner said, but potentially it can provide a time period to begin a green card application through an employer. With TPS, unauthorized immigrants have an 18-month protection from deportation and permission to work in the United States. Applicants must prove that they were in the United States by Jan. 12 of this year.

Haiti joins El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia, and Sudan as countries designated for TPS.

Update:

Sarah Maldonado, an attorney in Scarsdale, sent us information after participating in a teleconference led by the Director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Alejandro Mayorkas. He said the agency is increasing staff to prioritize Haitian immigration cases and handle an expected 100,000-200,000 TPS applications.

Maldonado writes:

“Only Haitians who can show that they have continuously resided in the United States since January 12, 2010, and who remain in continual physical presence in the United States starting January 21, 2010 will be eligible to apply.  The TPS registration period starts January 21, 2010, and ends within 180 days.

“Haitian nationals may apply for TPS even if they are not in lawful status in the United States.  Applicants, however, must be careful about making sure that other grounds of inadmissibility do not apply (some of which may not be waivable) and be especially careful before considering any travel out of the United States which can result in serious negative consequences in certain cases.  Haitians in removal proceedings, those who have final removal orders or who are in detention may be eligible for TPS.  However, Haitians traveling to the United States without authorization after January 12, 2010 are not eligible for TPS; the United States government plans to repatriate them to Haiti.

“In addition to TPS, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has also instituted other significant temporary relief measures for Haitians, including measures related to requests for change/extension of status (even where the nonimmigrant status has expired), advance parole, re-parole, off-campus employment authorization, humanitarian parole for certain orphaned Haitian children, expedited processing, fee waivers and assistance to those residing lawfully in the United States but who are trapped in Haiti.

“USCIS application forms and further information can be obtained at www.uscis.gov   (or by calling USCIS at 800-375-5283). Those seeking assistance in completing USCIS applications should beware of persons/organizations engaged in the unauthorized practice of law.  The American Immigration Lawyers Association, local bar associations and legal aid/community organizations are all mobilizing to assist Haitians with TPS applications and other immigration issues.”

In other news, a contingent of 50 volunteers from Rockland County — mostly Haitian-American medical and emergency personnel — are trying to find transportation to assist in the relief effort. Today, members of the Orthodox Jewish community in Rockland met with Haitian-Americans to talk about ways to help. And Haitians in the area continue to share stories of heartbreak over the earthquake’s impact.

By the way, AP has an interactive graphic about Haiti and its history, here.