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Pill claim stirs flurry of concerns
By Charles Rabin, Alfonso Chardy and Tere Figueras.
crabin@herald.com. The Miami
Herald. March 15, 2003.
The nine Cubans who reached American soil Thursday after claiming they had
swallowed pills at sea were released from hospitals within hours and could soon
gain their freedom, prompting concern that other migrants might try similar
stunts.
The so-called ''wet-foot/dry-foot policy'' sends Cubans intercepted at sea
back to their homeland.
But those who reach U.S. ground can stay, no matter how they get here.
''In wartime, people shoot themselves at the front lines,'' said José
Basulto, founder of Brothers to the Rescue, the group that until recently flew
rescue missions over the Florida Straits.
Stories of migrants resorting to desperate measures are not unprecedented
but by no means common.
In his 12 years flying volunteer missions, Basulto said he has never
encountered Cubans who deliberately made themselves sick.
But, he said, "It's not surprising that in these circumstances, people
would do things against themselves to provoke exactly what they need -- help and
assistance.''
The Coast Guard intercepted the nine Cubans aboard a small motorboat
Thursday evening a few hours off Islamorada, a scenario that would usually mean
repatriation.
But then members of the group told officers they had swallowed pills. A few
began to look ill. So the nine were taken ashore and rushed by ambulance to area
hospitals.
Five men taken to Mariners Hospital in Tavernier ''were in good condition
when they were brought to the emergency room,'' said Jill Miranda Baker,
hospital spokeswoman.
Within a few hours, all of them were fine.
They are now in the custody of immigration authorities, who said the group
is being processed at the Krome detention center in West Miami-Dade.
Officials would not comment on what, if anything, the migrants had taken.
The decision on whether to bring ailing refugees ashore comes down to the
Coast Guard crew, spokesman Lt. Tony Russell said. He was told some of the
migrants were not completely conscious.
Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for the Bureau of Immigration and Customs
Enforcement, a successor to the former Immigration and Naturalization Service,
said she could not comment directly on the group's status or condition on
arrival. She said Customs officials told her agency the group showed symptoms of
being ill, prompting the decision to bring them to land.
Although it is rare, migrants have been known to swallow glass or gasoline
to force authorities to bring them to shore.
News of the Cubans' successful trip will likely make it back to the island.
''Of course it could be copied of a way of getting here,'' said Uva de
Aragon, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida
Intnernational University.
''Word will spread fast,'' Miami immigration lawyer Tammy Fox-Isicoff said.
Fakery is also not unheard of. Basulto, of Brothers to the Rescue, said
faking illness probably happens often. In fact, he said, such an artifice once
cost him an airplane.
While trying to rescue a supposedly ill Cuban girl, the plane crashed. The
girl, they soon found, was healthy. Basulto broke a finger, his pilot a leg.
''But you can't get upset, you have to understand the situation these people
are in,'' he said. "My plane, by the way, is still there.'' | 
