They are treated in a totally different manner than ALL the other immigrants in every conceivable way. No one ever chases them around to return them to their original home if they simply can either fit into the 20,000 allotted open visas allowed Cuba annually, through the US Interests Section (no actual US embassy in Cuba, as that would make it appear as if the US respected Cuba) which is housed within the Swiss Embassy in Havana.
From what I can tell, almost no one outside the Cuban immigrant community seems aware of the LONG list of benefits they are given which have NEVER been available to any other country's immigrants. In Cuba, people receive housing, food allottments, monthly living allowances, free medical treatment, free educations through college, guaranteed monthly incomes, pension incomes, etc., etc. By coming to the US, they receive approximately the same deal through the Cuban Adjustment Act, and it's not publicized at all. Other nationalities, espcially the ones who are discriminated against wildly who DO know about the policy have understandably been sickened about it.
During the time of Elián González, whose mother and common-law husband drowned, along with others he had charged for a lift to the States, (two Cubans, a black man and his white girlfriend also survived, but were never mentioned by the popular press) a tiny Haitian girl was brought here by her mother, who unexpectedly died, leaving her with an aunt. The country couldn't wait to send her back immediately once it was known she was here. She was called the Haitian female Elián.
From the Washington Post:
In Little Haiti, the Elian Fight Sheds a Painful Light
By Sue Anne PressleyJ
January 15, 2000
. . .
As this city has been convulsed by the debate surrounding a young Cuban boy rescued at sea, the Haitian American community here has been working to remind everyone that there is another large group of people in greater Miami, other than Cuban Americans, who are dissatisfied with U.S. immigration policy and law. To these Haitian immigrants and a growing number of African American sympathizers, the unfair treatment they say they receive has its roots in a lingering American problem.
. . .
Since Thanksgiving, Haitian Americans have watched as the custody battle over 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez reached an international boil, drawing the attention of members of Congress and television cameras from around the world. Elian was found off the south Florida coast, one of three survivors of a failed journey from Cuba to America in which his mother died. When his father in Cuba and the government of Fidel Castro demanded his return, and his Miami relatives launched a fight to keep him here, an outcry in both countries ensued.
Overshadowed by the Elian story and its almost daily developments has been another refugee episode that has broken the hearts of many Haitian Americans. On New Year's Day, an overloaded fishing boat with more than 400 Haitians aboard was turned away from the south Florida coast, its passengers transferred to Coast Guard cutters and quickly sent back to Haiti--apparently with no questions asked. Several people reportedly had died on the miserable journey over here.
Only after the refugees were returned did authorities learn that a pregnant woman taken off the boat in Miami for medical treatment had been separated from her two children, ages 8 and 9, who were sent back with another relative to Haiti. The separation--coming as INS officials touted their goal of family reunification in the Elian Gonzalez case--dismayed Haitian Americans already upset about policies that, they say, tend to favor Cubans over other groups.
More:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/2000/01/15/in-little-haiti-the-elian-fight-sheds-a-painful-light/5821c395-a5a0-4ca3-962f-600c774092ce/
~ ~ ~
Here's a story I remember reading in 2000:
Florida's Haitian community fights to keep Sophonie in U.S.
May 4, 2000
Web posted at: 6:49 p.m. EDT (2249 GMT)
In this story:
Sophonie's story
An uncertain future
From Correspondent Mark Potter
MIAMI (CNN) -- Like Elian Gonzalez, Sophonie Telcy is 6 years old. And like Elian, her mother is dead. And like the Cuban boy who has been at the center of an international custody battle, Sophonie ended up staying with caretakers who are fighting to keep the Immigration and Naturalization Service from deporting the child. But unlike Elian, Sophonie was born in Haiti. And there has been no around-the-clock media coverage of her story, no team of lawyers pressing her case in the courts.
U.S. Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Florida, in an attempt to highlight preferential treatment given Cubans, has introduced legislation to grant Sophonie permanent residency status.
Sophonie's story
Sophonie came to Florida a year ago with her mother, who was ill. Her mother left the child with a friend in Lake Park and returned to Haiti, where she died. The girl's father has not been found. Sophonie is cared for by Jeanine Bolivard and her husband, both legal Haitian immigrants, who have three daughters of their own. Through an interpreter, Bolivard said Sophonie, who is attending kindergarten, has become a part of her family.
. . .
"Sophonie is facing deportation," said Marlein Bastien, president of Haitian Women of Miami, "because her mom didn't have a chance to petition for her to become a permanent resident." And Bolivard worries about what will happen if Sophonie is returned to the poverty of Haiti. "She can die, because she don't have anybody to take care of her."
More:
https://www.thecrimson.com/article/2000/5/3/have-you-heard-of-sophonie-psophonie/
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