CARIBBEAN TODAY


U.S. Senate revives bill offering legal status

 to Caribbean students


WASHINGTON The United
States Senate last month
revived a bill that would offer
legal status to Caribbean and
other students who have grad-
uated from high school here
but are in the country illegally.
 The move was made after
the first effort to advance a
piece of broad immigration
legislation failed in June.
 Senator Richard J. Durbin,
the Illinois Democrat who is an
author of the student measure,
said that he would try to offer
it as an amendment to the mili-
tary authorization bill under
debate in the Senate.
 The measure would pro-
vide a path to permanent legal
status for illegal Caribbean stu-
dents who came to the U.S.
before they were 16 years old,
graduated from high school in
"good standing" and agreed to
serve in the military or attend
college for at least two years.
Both supporters and opponents
of the measure said it would
serve as a test on whether legis-


Durbin


lation giving legal status to ille-
gal immigrants can pass
Congress this year, in light of
the strong opposition from con-
servative voters who defeated
the larger bill.
 Opponents rejected that
bill as an amnesty that would
reward Caribbean immigrants
who broke the law.

'NARROWLY TAILORED'
 Speaking on the Senate


floor, Durbin dL,,rib d his
measure as "narrowly tailored"
and said it would help resolve
"a very serious recruitment cri-
sis" for the military.
 Supporters, who called the
measure the Dream Act, said it
could pass the Senate because it
is intended to benefit young peo-
ple who grow up in the U.S. and
are illegal immigrants as a result
of decisions by their parents.
 In coordinated action, high
school and college students
who support the Senate meas-
ure staged iL., i-mi" and vis-
ited lawmakers' offices on
Sept. 19 in Florida, Idaho, New
York, Oregon and Wisconsin.
 Twenty illegal immigrant
students from California went
to Washington to lobby for the
bill, dressed in white coats and
business suits to signify the
medical and legal careers they
hope to pursue. They held a
news conference offering only
their first names.
0


U.S. backs Jamaica's new government


United States President
 George W. Bush has
 renewed his country's
commitment to strengthening
relations with Jamaica.
 Last month, the president
telephoned new Prime
Minister Bruce Golding to
congratulate him on his elec-
tion win and assured Golding
of the continuation of ongo-
ing programs of U.S. assis-
tance and collaboration.
 Golding conveyed the


appreciation of the Jamaican
government and people for
the longstanding positive rela-
tionship that both countries
have shared and noted that his
administration would work to
further improve U.S.-Jamaica
cooperation at the bilateral
and multilateral levels.
 Both leaders have com-
mitted to exploring new areas
of mutual interest where
cooperation will result in
greater levels of development
and prosperity for the people


of Jamaica and the U.S.

- Edited from JIS. Goldi
takes office and calls for
politics of cooperation in
Jamaica, while
pledging to intro-
duce measures to
stamp out corrup-
tion and rising crime
and drive economic
growth in the coun-
try, see page 18


Trinidadian man falsely accused of child rape...


(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 4)
assault, and initially iden-
tified her alleged assailant
as bald and white. Evelyn
is black.
 Evelyn said cops
 grilled him for hours, lying
 about fake DNA tests to
 try to force a confession,
 and offering to cut him a
 short prison term instead
 of life if he admitted guilt.
 Thrown into a jail cell
 with seasoned criminals,
 Evelyn said he stood with
 his back to a wall all night,
 praying, as fellow inmates
 greeted each other and
 unabashedly used an open
 toilet.
 He said he was strip-
 searched and left to sleep
 on a bare mattress in a
 filthy cell wearing only a
 Ii1,up r, ', and paraded
 past inmates who
 screamed, "Hey, Pops!
 You raped my sister! I'm


going to cut your throat!
Don't let me catch you in
the shower! We gonna
shank you!"
 Evelyn said when he
was finally freed, a cursing
correction officer refused
to give back $84 cash he
had handed over, then
released him with a $4
MetroCard to take the
subway home.

STUNNED
 He said when he
returned to Brooklyn, he
saw his face displayed on
front pages of newspapers.
 "I was stunned," he
said, disclosing that he
walked for miles with his
head under his shirt.
 "I didn't want any-
body to recognize me,"
said Evelyn.
 "I can't go out on the
street without having to
answer questions," he


said, >n people said,
'Hey, you're the guy who
raped the eight-year-old.' I
said, 'I never raped
nobody!'"
 Evelyn said though he
can return to work at the
school, whenever he pass-
es near the building, he
trembles. He said he has
been living off vacation
time and 57 sick days.
 "I had two more years
to retire," he said.
 "After you work all
that time, all that sacrifice,
it comes to this?" Evelyn
said.
 "I want to get over
this," he added. "I don't
want those charges just to
be sealed. I want it to be
washed away. I want an
apology. Come on. Clear
my name!"
0


ng
new
t


Grenada-born ex-judge freed

from jail in child support case


NEW YORK, CMC A
Grenadian-born former New
York State Supreme Court
judge has been freed after
spending four months in jail for
failing to pay $250,000 in back
child support.
 Reynold Mason was freed
Sept. 19 after his ex-wife,
Guyanese Tessa Abrams Mason,
agreed to accept $30,000.
 "I am not making any
comment whatsoever," Mason
told reporters outside
Manhattan Supreme Court.
 Mason, who was kicked
off the bench in 2003 and had
subsequently worked as a
real estate agent in Atlanta,
Georgia, had told Justice Joan
Lobis that he was "dead
broke" and could not come up
with $250,000 in court-ordered,
delinquent child support pay-
ments to Abrams Mason for
their three children, ages 17,
15, and nine.
 "I don't feel victory,"
Abrams Mason said. "I feel
tired."

LONG FIGHT
 She said she fought for
four years to get her ex-hus-
band to support their three
children.
 "We shouldn't get tired,"
she said. "We shouldn't settle


for less. But I ci ikd because
I'm desperate."
 Manhattan Supreme Court
Justice Joan Lobis had initially
ordered Mason to pay $75,000
and commit to a payment plan
to leave jail. But Mason said he
could not raise even $30,000.
 Abrams Mason said she
compromised because she
needed the money to buy
school clothes, pay college
application fees for their eldest
daughter, and pay higher rent
because they faced eviction.
Mason said he had only made
$68,000 in 2005 and 2006, com-
pared to $136,700 annually
when he sat on the bench, and
that he was borrowing from
relatives to get by. He said he
declared bankruptcy in order
to survive, but Justice Lobis
threw him in jail in May after
he failed to pay child support
for four years.
 Abrams Mason, who man-
aged her ex-husband's 1994
campaign to get him elected to
Brooklyn Civil Court then the
Supreme Court, was instru-
mental in getting him kicked
off the bench when she submit-
ted evidence of alleged ethics
violations to the New York
State Commission on Judicial
Conduct.
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October 2007