13684: (Chamberlain) Haitians vs. Cubans (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By SABRA AYRES

   MIAMI, Nov 14 (AP) -- Eight Cubans land in Key West aboard a crop-duster
and are allowed to remain in the United States. More than 200 Haitians come
ashore aboard a rickety ship near downtown Miami and are all but certain to
be sent back to their desperately poor homeland.
   The two groups' very different fates dramatize what some
Haitian-Americans say is a cruel and racist double standard in U.S.
immigration policy, shaped largely by the Cold War.
   "If you come here from a communist country, it's OK. If you come from a
white country, it's OK. If you come here from a black country,
noncommunist, it's not OK," said Jacques Despinosse, a North Miami city
councilman who represents the city's growing Haitian-American community.
   For more than 40 years, Cuban refugees have routinely been given asylum
in the United States. Under a "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy adopted by the
Immigration and Naturalization Service in the 1990s, Cubans who reach U.S.
soil are automatically allowed to stay; those caught at sea are sent home.
   The government's explanation is that the Cubans are fleeing Fidel
Castro's communist government and are assumed to face political persecution
if they are returned.
   Haitians, who represent the latest large wave of immigrants arriving in
South Florida, are usually deported, often after being detained by the INS
until their asylum cases are heard. The government says most of the
Haitians are economic, not political, refugees and not entitled to asylum.
   The different policies were thrown into sharp relief by the arrival of
the Cuban family in Key West on Monday and the televised dash for freedom
by more than 200 Haitians on Oct. 29.
   Rep. Carrie Meek, a black Democrat from Miami, confronted Gov. Jeb Bush
during a campaign stop last month, urging him to contact his brother
President Bush and get him to free the Haitians.
   "All you have to do is call -- the wet-foot, dry-foot policy would take
effect," she said. "You can do it."
   Meek and other community leaders have said they will hold a protest
march on Washington in February.
   The differing policies on Cuba and Haiti might reflect a difference in
political influence.
   South Florida's Cuban-American community has grown into a powerful
economic and political force since the first wave of refugees began
arriving more than 40 years ago. Miami-Dade County has an estimated 650,000
Cubans.
   The state has elected three Cuban-Americans to Congress, all Miami
Republicans: Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln Diaz-Balart, and Diaz-Balart's
brother Mario. The mayors of Miami-Dade County and the city of Miami are
Cuban-Americans, as are a majority of the county and city commissions.
   The Haitian-Americans' political influence has also been growing,
spreading from Miami's Little Haiti into North Miami, but they do not have
the clout of the Cubans. The 2000 Census put South Florida's Haitian
community at 150,000, though advocacy groups said the number is closer to
450,000.
   In 2000, North Miami's Philip Brutus became the first Haitian-American
elected to the state Legislature. North Miami's mayor and vice mayor are of
Haitian descent. In 1999, the village of El Portal, just north of Miami,
became the first U.S. community to have a Haitian majority on its governing
body.
   An analysis of Justice Department statistics on asylum applications
handled by immigration courts in 2000-01 shows the courts denied 88 percent
of the asylum applications submitted by Haitians.
   Haitian activists said they are not asking that the wet-foot, dry-foot
policy be taken away from the Cubans. Rather, they want the policy extended
to Haitians trying to escape the poverty and violence of Haiti.
   "It isn't a question of Cubans versus Haitians," said Dina Paul Parks of
the National Coalition for Haitian Rights. "It's a question of Haitians
versus everyone else arriving in Miami. It's about the INS choosing folks
based on nationality."