* After Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide was overthrown in a 2004 coup, USCRI condemned, as a “flagrant” violation of “the legal and ethical obligation to protect refugees,” President George W. Bush’s announcement that the United States “will turn back any refugee that attempts to reach our shore.” According to USCRI director Lavinia Limon, “For years we have witnessed the unfair, discriminatory treatment of Haitian refugees, but now the president is publicly admitting that the U.S. does not obey international law…. He is sending a signal to the rest of the world that it is okay to turn a blind eye to persecution and to force refugees into harm.”