27166: (news) Chamberlain: US returns Cubans (mention of Haitians) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

Posted by Greg Chamberlain

                           US returns Cubans who reached bridge, not dry
land



     MIAMI, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard repatriated 15 Cubans on
Monday who had tried to reach the United States but managed to get only as
far as a pylon of an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys.
     The repatriation of the Cubans cast a renewed spotlight on the U.S.
policy of generally allowing Cuban who reach U.S. soil to stay in the
country, and sending back those intercepted by the Coast Guard at sea, a
"wet foot, dry foot" policy that non-Cuban immigrant groups consider
unfair.
     The Coast Guard said Washington had decided that the old Seven Mile
Bridge, reached by the 15 Cubans, was not connected to land, placing them
in the "wet foot" category. As a result, they were sent back to Cuba in a
group of 67 migrants.
     The bridge, which runs parallel to a newer Seven Mile Bridge roadway
connecting parts of the Keys, an island chain off mainland Florida's
southern tip, is broken in places and mainly used by fishermen.
     A small group of Cuban-American activists gathered in downtown Miami
to protest the decision.
     According to recent figures, the Coast Guard picked up 2,866 Cubans at
sea in 2005, nearly twice as many as the previous year and the highest
number since 1994, when more than 37,000 were intercepted in a major exodus
from the island.
     All other undocumented immigrants, if caught inside the United States,
are usually deported. Haitian groups in particular argue that the
privileges extended to Cubans who reach land should be extended to other
groups.
     Of Caribbean residents hoping to reach the United States, only
Dominicans took to the sea in greater numbers -- 4,388 last year compared
with 4,568 in 2004.
     Fewer Haitians attempted the journey at 1,828, compared with 3,078 the
year before.