Miami ? Members of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights, meeting in Miami on Friday, agreed to open an informal inquiry into why federal immigration authorities are keeping about 200 Haitian refugees in long-term detention in Miami-Dade County.

Commission members acted after more than a dozen immigrant and civil rights activists addressed the panel. Among them was Barry University President Sister Jeanne O’Laughlin, who moved by her own description of detention conditions openly cried.

“I weep over this sin against these people,” said O’Laughlin, referring to the policy of keeping Haitian asylum-seekers detained. “It is wrong.”

Patricia Mancha, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Miami, declined comment on the issue and referred questions to the Justice Department. Susan Dryden, a Justice Department spokeswoman in Washington, suggested that the detention of Haitians was aimed at deterring an exodus of refugees from Haiti.

“Our number one concern is the safety of these individuals who embark on very dangerous sea crossings to the United States,” Dryden said. “INS policy is directed at deterring a mass migration and saving lives.”

The commission met in Miami on Thursday to gauge whether election reforms approved last year by the Florida Legislature are effective. But at the request of immigrant rights activists, the commission agreed to stay through Friday to hear statements on the detention of Haitians.

The commission is an independent, fact-finding body with subpoena power and staff investigators though it lacks authority to mandate changes. Conservative critics say the commission is not objective and accuse it of favoring liberal and Democratic Party causes.

After the statements, commission members toured the county-run maximum security jail Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center, where the INS keeps female asylum seekers. Twenty-seven Haitian women welcomed commission members and one appealed for help to gain freedom.