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An Immigration Judge rule: A U.S. citizen no more -- Haitian Lionel Jean-Baptiste to be deported

BY ALFONSO CHARDY

achardy@MiamiHerald.com

An immigration judge today ordered Lionel Jean-Baptiste, the first naturalized American in recent times stripped of his citizenship after being convicted of a drug crime, to be deported to Haiti.

The judge advised Jean-Baptiste that it's possible he may yet get to stay in the United States if the government of Haiti refuses to take him back. The Haitian consul in Miami told The Miami Herald that Haitians who have taken other country's citizenship are no longer considered citizens of Haiti, therefore, Haiti would be under no obligation to accept him.

Jean-Baptiste gave up his legal battle today. He remains at the Krome detention center for now.

It was Jean-Baptiste's first major immigration court hearing since U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers detained him June 14 and put him in deportation proceedings. The detention came about eight months after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear his case.

Jean-Baptiste, 58, had his citizenship revoked after a Miami federal jury in 1997 convicted him on drug-trafficking charges. ICE moved to revoke Jean-Baptiste's citizenship in 2000, not because of the conviction -- but because the commission of the crime occurred while he awaited citizenship and was required to be of ``good moral character.''