Handling of Haitian Refugees Attacked : Immigration: U.S. turns back vast majority while allowing Cubans easy entry. Activists object, but INS is following government agreement.

About the same time that 452 Haitian refugees were disembarking Wednesday from the U.S. Coast Guard cutter Tahoma in Port-au-Prince, Haiti--after failing in their attempt to sail into Florida--11 Cuban rafters who had been plucked from the sea hours earlier were being released to relatives in Miami.

This year, 448 Cubans have crossed the Florida Straits, many on crude boats fashioned from inner tubes. Most have been rescued at sea, either by the U.S. Coast Guard or private vessels.

During the same period, 964 Haitians have been seized at sea by the Coast Guard and returned to Haiti.

The disparity that exists between the welcome granted Cubans and Haitians is not new. But with record numbers of refugees from both of the Caribbean nations sailing for the United States in recent weeks, Haitian activists have renewed their cry for a revision in government policy.

“For the most part, both Haitians and Cubans are fleeing economic circumstances,” said Cheryl Little, attorney for the Haitian Refugee Center. “But we are welcoming Cubans as heroes, and we can’t get the Haitians back to Haiti fast enough. Of course it’s a double standard.”

Two factors contribute to the favored status granted to Cubans over illegal immigrants from other nations. One is the Cuban Adjustment Act passed by Congress in 1966, which gives special recognition to those fleeing Fidel Castro’s communist regime. Any Cuban coming directly from the island is welcomed as a refugee, and after one year in the United States may apply for permanent residency.

But also contributing to the disparity in treatment accorded Cubans and Haitians is a special agreement with Haiti that permits refugees interdicted at sea to be returned to Haiti. There is no such agreement with Cuba.

“If we had the ability or legal means to deport Cubans (interdicted at sea), we would,” says Ken Powers, director of deportation for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Miami.

Powers adds that it is not just Cuban rafters who could be returned if an agreement between the United States and the Castro government were in place. Excluding those who arrived during the 1980 Mariel boatlift, more than 10,000 Cuban refugees have been convicted of felonies in the United States also could be deported.

“They are repeat offenders, out of jail, many convicted of serious crimes,” said Powers. “But we cannot deport them.”

Under a special agreement with Cuba, any felons among the 125,000 Mariel refugees--convicted here or in Cuba--can be deported.

Changes in U.S. immigration policy regarding refugees from Cuba and Haiti are unlikely. The Cuban exile lobby in the United States is powerful, while the Haitian lobby is virtually non-existent.

But the Bush Administration has recently ordered changes in procedures for interviewing refugees and hearing their claims for asylum. Beginning this year, immigration agents are to spend at least 20 minutes interviewing each Haitian stopped at sea.

Meanwhile, some Haitians do slip through the Coast Guard’s net at sea. Three Haitians, airlifted off the cutter Tahoma after they were found to be suffering from dehydration, were taken to a Miami hospital for treatment. But soon after arriving in the emergency room, two of the three walked out. “There’s no sign of them,” said Powers. “I imagine they’ll just disappear into the community.”

Times researcher Anna Virtue contributed to this story.