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Posted on Thu, Nov. 28, 2002 in
The Miami Herald.
Cuban mother says son can stay in U.S.
Teen held by INS in smuggling case
By Luisa Yanez, Elaine de Valle and Andres Viglucci.
aviglucci@herald.com
The mother of a Cuban teenager detained as a witness in an alien-smuggling
case said in a phone call from Cuba late Wednesday that she wants the boy to
stay in the United States with his father.
In a 10-minute conversation with Mayda Orozco Fernández, identified
as the mother of 14-year-old Leonel Figueroa Orozco, the attorney for the boy's
Miami relatives established that she would not make any claim to him.
''I want him to stay with his father,'' Orozco said on a speaker phone.
The attorney, Grisel Ybarra, said, "The reason we're doing this is so
that we don't have another Elián [case] where Fidel alleges that the
parent wanted the child back.''
The case involving Leonel has revived memories of the international custody
dispute in 2000 over rafter child Elián González, created when his
father in Cuba demanded the boy's return to the island.
Cuban exiles believe Elián's father was pressured by Fidel Castro to
ask for the boy.
AT BOYSTOWN
Leonel remained in immigration custody at Boystown, a Catholic facility,
Wednesday evening. Immigration officials said they could not say when, or if,
the 14-year-old boy would be set free.
At an afternoon news conference, his four somber-faced relatives and their
attorneys insisted that criminal charges against the two Miami men accused of
smuggling the boy and five others into the country were misplaced.
They said the men were bringing in family members only and were not
profiting from the venture.
They said the boy's father, Leonel Figueroa, who accompanied him to Florida,
had custody and had raised him alone since the age of 5.
Orozco did not say in the later phone conversation why she wanted her son to
stay in the United States, but his Miami aunt, Mirta Figueroa, said, "She
wants what's best for her son. She knows my brother is a good father. She gave
him custody so he could come to the United States where he would have a better
future.''
Ybarra said Orozco is the daughter of a Cuban revolutionary hero, Félix
Orozco, who fought with Castro and revolutionary leader Camilo Cienfuegos.
Leonel's relatives called for the boy's prompt release. Father and son are
being held separately by immigration authorities, who are also holding their
four traveling companions.
''He's never been separated from his father and the last thing he saw was
his father being arrested, and he must be very emotional,'' said Mirta Figueroa.
She is the elder Figueroa's sister and is married to one of the accused
smugglers, Martin Mendez Diaz.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robert Dubé on Wednesday set a $60,000 bail for
each of the two suspected smugglers, Mendez Diaz, believed to be 44, and
Elizardo Ruiz Alvarez, believed to be 30.
Under U.S. law, the men can be charged with smuggling if they are suspected
of bringing illegal aliens into the country even if they did not collect money
from their passengers.
BOAT'S OWNER
Ruiz Alvarez is the registered owner of the 21-foot boat that federal agents
say was used to smuggle in the boy and his companions.
Both men are legal U.S. resident aliens, according to the government.
Defense attorney Frank Quintero, who is temporarily representing both
accused men, is hoping to persuade federal prosecutors and the magistrate to
lower the bail amount.
Their Miami relatives said Ruiz Alvarez and Mendez Diaz are friends who went
to Cuba to retrieve loved ones.
At the news conference, Ruiz Alvarez's brother Carlos said his single
brother has a 2-year-old daughter in Miami and makes a living building boats.
All four relatives said they had no forewarning of the trip. Their attorney
advised them not to discuss the particulars of the criminal case.
OTHER PASSENGERS
They identified other boat passengers as cousins Rubén Valdivia and
Daylin Valdivia -- who is the fiancée of suspected smuggler Ruiz Alvarez
-- and Lázaro Fernández, a cousin of the Valdivias. One relative,
Tania Crespo, said the sixth man is Rafael Nova, a cousin of hers.
Immigration authorities say all six were found hidden aboard Ruiz Alvarez's
boat after it ran out of gas and was towed to Key West by the U.S. Coast Guard
on Monday. The Coast Guard was notified of the disabled boat by a passing
tanker.
According to the criminal complaint, signed by Border Patrol Special Agent
Verne A. Eastwood, an unidentified Spanish-speaking Coast Guard officer on a
patrol boat asked the two men at the tiller how many others were on board. The
men said they were the only occupants.
The Coast Guard patrol boat crew decided not to board the vessel due to
rough seas, but gave the men some gasoline and began to escort them back to Key
West. The vessel again ran out of gas and the Coast Guard decided to tow the
vessel the rest of the way in to the Coast Guard's Key West dock.
When an officer opened the hatch to the cabin, the complaint said, the five
adults burst out and clambered onto the dock.
Under U.S. policy, they will probably be allowed to remain in the country
because they reached dry ground.
The boy, however, could not get out of the boat, was detained and spent the
night on a Coast Guard cutter while federal authorities decided whether to bring
him in.
They finally concluded Tuesday afternoon that the teen should be brought to
shore as a material witness in the smuggling case, ensuring that he, too, would
likely remain in the United States.
ACCOUNT DISPUTED
Ybarra, the relatives' attorney, disputed Eastwood's account of what the boy
did.
She said family heard that the boy, seeing his father being arrested, also
tried to jump onto the dock and was held back.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service declined to discuss the boy's
status.
''We're not discussing anything related to the boy because he's a
juvenile,'' said Ana Santiago, an INS spokeswoman in Miami.
"We are, however, mindful there's family involved and we're working
diligently to accommodate any needs that may arise.''
OUT OF MARIEL
Authorities say the boy later confirmed that Ruiz Alvarez and Mendez Diaz
picked the group off the shore of Mariel, Cuba, late on Saturday.
Quintero, the suspected smugglers' attorney, said he hoped federal
prosecutors don't compel the boy to testify against a relative.
But a former U.S. attorney said prosecutors can legally compel the
14-year-old boy to testify so long as a judge determines he is competent as a
witness.
''Certainly a 14-year-old is competent enough to be a witness,'' said Miami
lawyer Kendall Coffey, a former U.S. attorney.
Herald staff writers Larry Lebowitz and Jay Weaver contributed to this
report.
Cuban defector Contreras could arrive in Nicaragua today
By Kevin Baxter. kbaxter@herald.com. Posted on Thu, Nov.
28, 2002.
Pitcher José Ariel Contreras, who defected from the Cuban national
team in early October and has been in South Florida since, could arrive in
Nicaragua as early as today, where he is expected to seek residency in the first
step toward signing with a major-league baseball team as a free agent.
According to a story Wednesday in La Prensa, Nicaragua's leading newspaper,
Contreras was invited by Aníbal Zuniga, a lawyer and general manager of
the San Fernando team in Nicaragua's winter league.
Zuniga was expected to come to Miami to accompany Contreras to Central
America, said a source close to the story who was not quoted in La Prensa.
Contreras, ace of the Cuban pitching staff and widely regarding as the best
amateur pitcher in the world, is expected to give clinics and might pitch for
San Fernando to demonstrate his fitness for major-league clubs.
But the real reason for the visit is to establish a Nicaraguan address,
which would allow him to petition the commissioner's office for free agent
status.
As a U.S. resident, Contreras would be forced to enter the June amateur
draft and could negotiate only with the team that selects him. As a resident of
any country other than Puerto Rico, Canada and the United States, however, he
would be considered a free agent able to negotiate with all 30 big-league clubs.
Contreras, who turns 31 next month, is best known in the United States for
the eight shutout innings he pitched against the Baltimore Orioles during an
exhibition game from Havana three years ago.
Herald wire services contributed to this report.
Posted on Wed, Nov. 27, 2002
Mexican migrants pass Cubans in their rate of relocation to state
By Andrea Elliott. Aelliott@Herald.Com
Florida's immigrant population has boomed since 2000, led by an influx of
Mexicans who for the first time surpassed Cubans in the rate of arrivals,
bumping Florida up to the nation's second most popular destination for
immigrants, Census data suggest.
Florida's Hispanic community may be facing a fundamental shift, with nearly
equal numbers of Cuban and Colombian immigrants moving here in the past two
years, according to a study released today by the Center for Immigration
Studies, a public-policy institute in Washington, D.C.
The state is now home to 3.1 million immigrants -- 357,000 more than two
years ago. That increase is second only to California's and displaces New York,
which previously ranked second among states in arrivals.
Florida's proximity to Latin America and a steady supply of low-wage jobs
are factors in the migration, which continued despite the nation's slowed
economy. For many immigrants, the United States' sagging economy and terrorist
attacks posed less of a threat than the turmoil of their home countries.
''It's hard here, but it's even harder in Argentina,'' said Argentine Rosana
Pérez, who came to Florida with her two daughters last December. They
live in South Beach, where Pérez works as a waitress.
Haitian Jean-Garry Fabien also came in December, fleeing death threats in
Port-au-Prince after he criticized the government on his radio program. He
remains unemployed and left his wife and children behind, but he feels lucky to
be alive.
''By God's grace they didn't kill me,'' he said.
The center's study examined a sample survey conducted by the Census Bureau
in March, which included 23,000 foreign-born immigrants, both legal and
undocumented.
MIGRATION LURES
Like most migrants, family ties in the United States and a stable society
drove David Muir, 33, to leave Kingston, Jamaica.
''One of the main things about being here over Jamaica would be a little bit
more stability -- economic and political,'' said Muir, of Sunrise. "The
most important factor is the quality of life.''
Florida's immigrants accounted for at least half of the state's population
growth in the last two years, according to the study. The state's immigrant
population jumped 81 percent between 1990 and 2002, to its current total of
nearly 3.1 million.
''That's a very dramatic increase for Florida,'' said Steven A. Camarota,
director of research for the center, which critiques the impact of immigration
on the United States.
"You'd think that the economic downturn in 2000 would have produced a
slowdown. The fact is that life remains a whole lot better here than in most
sending countries. So regardless of what's happening here, people still come.''
The data suggest Mexico may now be the number one country sending immigrants
to Florida. About 14 percent of people who migrated to Florida after 2000 were
from Cuba, compared to 22 percent -- or an estimated 80,000 people -- who were
from Mexico.
''They are becoming a significant part of the South Florida landscape,''
said Eduardo Gamarra, an FIU political scientist leading a study on the state's
Mexican population.
Florida's Mexican community has grown by 125 percent to its current
Census-estimated total of 395,000. There are an estimated 800,000 Cubans in
Florida.
Gamarra believes Mexicans will surpass Cubans in five years.
''There are 22.5 million Mexicans in the United States. Florida was the last
bastion to succumb to Mexican immigrants,'' Gamarra said. "It is an
invisible immigrant population. Why are they invisible? Because they are
primarily migrant workers.''
Mexicans, like many other immigrants, have come to Florida because they have
relatives here.
''Almost all immigration is really propelled by family and other social
ties,'' said Alex Stepick, director of FIU's Immigration and Ethnicity
Institute. "The immigration to South Florida has really restructured the
economy of South Florida from being a tourist location for people in the
Northeast and Midwest to becoming the capital of Latin America.''
Love propelled Stephen Hylton, 38, to leave Kingston, Jamaica, for Miami in
1999. He also wanted a new career challenge: The former Olympic table tennis
athlete owned a trophy store in Jamaica but wanted to start a business in Miami.
''The idea of opening a store here seemed exciting,'' said Hylton, who now
owns Trophy City near the Falls on South Dixie Highway.
Jamaica has a history of sending successful entrepreneurs to South Florida,
but most of Florida's immigrants struggle to succeed because they lack education
and documents to work legally.
Demographers worry whether Florida will be able to keep pace: More than 45
percent of immigrants and their children live in or near poverty and about 31
percent are without health insurance, according to the study.
''It's a constant challenge, and it's going to be changing in complexity as
some of South Florida gets closer to build out,'' said Richard Ogburn, principal
planner for the South Florida Regional Planning Council, a governmental agency.
One major concern is whether the school system can accommodate the growth,
when more than 100,000 Florida immigrants have had children since 2000.
''Dade County schools are chronically overcrowded and get 13,000 more kids a
year,'' Stepick said. "And if you're in a state that doesn't want to raise
taxes and doesn't want to pay for services, then one place to crunch is in the
schools. It should therefore surprise no one that Florida's schools are among
the worst in the nation.''
The growth of Florida's immigrant population speeded up after new laws were
passed in 1965 to admit more migrants from non-European nations, said Thomas
Boswell, a University of Miami immigration specialist.
HISTORIC WAVE
''This is like the second great migration,'' Boswell said. "Now the big
cities are Miami and Los Angeles, whereas before the cities that figured most
prominently were the cities of the industrial revolution -- the cities of the
Northeast and Midwest.''
Currently, seven of every 10 new residents in South Florida are
foreign-born. An estimated 1.5 million more are expected to move to the region
in the next 30 years, Ogburn said.
''Most of them come here to work. They want to make a contribution and they
want to have opportunities that they don't have in their home countries,''
Boswell said. "So you can think of it as an investment into the future --
the cost of today.''
Fabien, the former radio journalist from Haiti, hopes to learn skills here
that he can use to work and pay taxes. But first he must be granted political
asylum.
''My dream is to bring my family here and take care of them,'' he said. "My
dream is for the U.S. to respect me.''
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