Haitians, Cubans Buy Boat, Take It to Florida

Seventeen Cubans and Haitians, who joined forces and bought a boat in their effort to reach the United States, arrived in the Miami area from the Bahamas over the weekend, the Border Patrol said Sunday.

The arrival of the group, one of five boats of refugees that U.S. immigration authorities were alerted to over the weekend, underscored the longstanding controversy over the different ways refugees from the two Caribbean countries are treated under U.S. immigration law.

The seven Cubans and 10 Haitians told U.S. authorities that they met in the Bahamas, pooled their money, bought a boat and made the eight-hour trip to Florida together Saturday.

To gain permanent U.S. residency, the Haitians must prove they face persecution in their homeland, or they will face deportation.

But the Cubans, under a 1966 law granting refugees from the Communist-ruled island special treatment, are automatically eligible for permanent residency a year and a day after they arrive.

Although Cubans who come from third countries such as the Bahamas are not automatically eligible for entry to the United States, they are almost never sent back to Cuba.

“There’s a definite disparity between Haitians and Cubans who have been arriving together for several months,” said Rolande Dorancy, executive director of the Haitian Refugee Center, an advocacy group in Miami.

“They should let them stay,” said Rolando Gonzalez, 27, one of the seven Cubans. “They’ve gone through as much trouble as we have.”

The other boats contained either all Cubans or all Haitians, according to Border Patrol spokesman Mike Sheehy.

All the refugees were ordered to appear before an immigration judge to explain why they should be granted asylum, Sheehy said.