By Claire Thompson. Staff Writer. Newsday.com. July 20, 2000.
While world attention has been focused on the case of 6-year-old Cuban refugee Elian Gonzalez, fewer Cubans have been reaching U.S. shores, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Joe Mellia, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, said in an interview this week that while the number of "rafters" is high this summer because of optimal sea conditions, the number reaching land has dropped 34 percent from October of last year. In June, for example, 117 rafters arrived,
80 fewer than in June of last year.
"It has a lot to do with our presence being beefed up," he said. "From June of last year we have more helicopters and boats down at the Florida Keys, which is where the majority of nationals come in." Mellia also said the weather is a factor in how many rafters seek to reach
the United States at any given time.
"We have a public Coast Guard information station which allows the smugglers access to a lot of data, allowing them to keep track of the weather conditions," he said.
The 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act allows any Cuban who reaches American soil to stay in the country, while other nationals are subject to immigration regulations. The legislation, passed during the Cold War, presumes that everyone leaving Cuba is a political refugee. Cuban officials have attacked it
as an encouragement for mass emigration from the country and many U.S immigration commentators agree.
"There is no doubt that this policy has sometimes created perverse incentives for Cubans to come here," said Steve Camarota, research director for the Center for Immigration Studies, a nonpartisan, nonprofit group based in Washington. "Let's not forget that this rule applies to
Cubans only. Haitians and those from the Dominican Republic get no such privilege. It obviously has a lot to do with Cold War politics and the significant influence of Cubans in this country." There has been no change in the number of Haitian immigrants, Mellia said.
"So far this year 300 Haitians have been apprehended, last year a total of 405 were caught and it looks set to remain steady," he said.
Similarly, U.S Border Patrol agents in Puerto Rico have found no real change in the number of immigrants from the Dominican Republic, according to an agent who asked not to be named.
Cuban exiles in Miami speculate the decline in Cuban immigration may be related to the furor over whether Elian Gonzalez should have stayed in the United States or returned to Cuba. He returned home with his father June 28.
"If figures have in fact declined," said Saul Sanchez of the Democracy Movement in Florida, an organization opposed to Cuban President Fidel Castro that was active in the attempt to keep Elian in the United States, "then it may well be attributed to the Elian case. It could have
discouraged many Cubans from attempting to come. However, in my opinion, with the worsening of the political situation in Cuba I will expect the numbers to increase." Mariela Ferretti of the Cuban American National Foundation in Miami, another organization of Cuban exiles, also expressed
skepticism that the decline would be long-term.
"Figures may have temporarily declined and certainly it could be due to an increase in Castro's propaganda striking fear into Cuban natives. But it hasn't done so before. I think, give it time, these figures may be contradicted."
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