By Pamela Constable
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, March 24, 1998; Page A06

Nearly 2,000 Haitian immigrants and refugees from Miami, New York and Boston rallied yesterday on the U.S. Capitol steps demanding "equal treatment" with Cuban and Nicaraguan refugees, who were granted permanent residency in the United States under a law passed in November.

"The message is simple . . . we can't have green cards for Cubans, Nicaraguans and other Central Americans without amnesty for Haitians," Rep. Carrie P. Meek (D-Fla.) told the crowd. Meek has introduced legislation to grant residency to all Haitians who entered the United States before Jan. 1, 1996.

The protesters, who boisterously chanted in Haitian Creole, included refugees who fled Haiti in flimsy boats after a 1991 military coup and were detained by the U.S. Coast Guard at Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba. Many have been living in the United States under a temporary amnesty, but have little chance of obtaining permanent residency.

"It seems that Congress has been treating Haitians differently than others. I do not understand why," said Abel Pierre, 47, a restaurant worker in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., who said he fled Haiti in 1992 after the army burned down his sister's house and threatened other relatives who had worked for democratic elections.

Haitians are not the only refugee group that has complained of unequal treatment.

The Nicaraguan Adjustment and Central American Relief Act, which became law in November, granted permanent residency to Nicaraguan and Cuban refugees who arrived by December 1, 1995, even if they entered the United States illegally. But the legislation gave only partial relief to 250,000 illegal immigrants from El Salvador and Guatemala by allowing them to appeal deportation orders under more lenient rules than current law allows. Those groups are still pressing for permanent legal amnesty.

In December, President Clinton used his executive authority to spare as many as 20,000 Haitian refugees from deportation for one year.

But Haitian advocacy groups said that the gesture did not go far enough and that lack of congressional support for full amnesty was a sign of racial discrimination against Haitians.

"The United States is a democracy where there is supposed to be equal treatment for all, not just for one group," said Haitian native Michel Nestor, a retired hospital worker and legal resident from New York. "Haitians are hard workers and taxpayers, and they deserve something in return."

Meek's bill has little support and powerful adversaries, including Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R-Tex.), who heads a House immigration subcommittee. But a less far-reaching bill to help a smaller number of Haitians, sponsored by Sen. Bob Graham (D-Fla.), has more backers and is scheduled for discussion in a Senate immigration subcommittee next week.

In addition, some refugees from Honduras are seeking relief from deportation, through legislative proposals and lawsuits.

The Hondurans complain that although they, too, suffered during Central American wars in the 1980s, they have been "left out" of recent efforts by Congress and Clinton to help refugees.

Yesterday, some refugee advocates noted that groups with anti-communist credentials, such as those who fled the leftist Sandinista revolution in Nicaragua, have been able to win more political support here than those who suffered under right-wing military regimes, including Haitians and Salvadorans.

"It is a question of fairness and parity," said Jocelyn McCalla, director of the National Coalition for Haitian Rights in New York, who spoke at the rally.