Cluster of Cuban arrivals suggests `open door' seen

Posted at 9:31 p.m. EDT Tuesday, June 1, 1999

200 Cubans try to reach U.S. shore

New view of law spurs busy weekend off coast

By YVES COLON and SUSANA BELLIDO
Herald Staff Writers

Lured by what they may be interpreting as an open-arms invitation by the top U.S. immigration official and bolstered by smugglers' boats capable of taking on rough seas, about 200 Cubans tried to reach South Florida over the Memorial Day Weekend.

Some reached the U.S. coast; others didn't.

From Key West to Miami Beach, Border Patrol agents picked up 104 Cubans they believed had landed at nine sites. They were processed at the Krome detention center and released.

The Coast Guard stopped 106 others offshore, and took 79 back to Cuba early Tuesday.

``Everything's wide open now,'' said Dan Geoghegan, the Border Patrol's assistant chief in Miami. ``We would have had 200 if the Coast Guard had not intercepted them.''

Up to the weekend, 259 Cubans had landed in South Florida during May.

Even Geoghegan, a veteran agent, was surprised by the latest numbers.

``I suspected some traffic, but I didn't think it was going to be that busy,'' he said.

His own agency may have had a lot to do with the surge.

In late April, Immigration Commissioner Doris Meissner clarified the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act to classify new Cubans as ``parolees.'' That allows them to work while waiting for their permanent-residence card -- which they receive 12 months and one day after arriving in the United States.

Asylum request was required

Before Meissner's order, when Cubans arrived by sea, they were interviewed by the Border Patrol and released on parole days later. They could work or legalize their immigration status. Only an immigration judge could grant permanent residency, and then only if the refugees asked for political asylum.

In the past month, Geoghegan, said, word of the change surely reached Cuba. ``Now,'' he said, ``there's a general awareness that even aliens who arrive here illegally can benefit from the Cuban Adjustment Act.''

Dan Kane, a spokesman for the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington, argued against tying Meissner's clarification to the significant rise in the number of Cuban migrants.

``The numbers have been up for some time,'' he said.

Since October, the beginning of its fiscal year, the Border Patrol has detained 1,259 Cubans who landed on U.S. soil, more than twice the number for all of fiscal 1998. The Coast Guard has interdicted 488 Cubans at sea, 158 in May alone.

``I'm convinced that it's going to be the normal thing now,'' Geoghegan said.

Traditionally, Cubans migrants have waited for calm seas in the summer to use small boats to cross the Florida Straits.

Many land despite rough water

But that's no longer true necessarily the case. The seas were unseasonably high this weekend, rising to five feet as storms passed through. Yet the weekend landings stunned in their numbers:

They began around 2 a.m. Saturday when a group of 11 Cubans -- 7 men, 2 women, and 2 boys -- landed on Smathers Beach in Key West. They apparently hid until about 5:30 a.m. when someone reported them to police.

``They're claiming the boat returned to Cuba,'' said Jim Orgeck of the Border Patrol. ``It could have been somebody local or from Miami. That's been our experience. They stage these landings to give these smugglers the opportunity to get away.''

At about 3:30 a.m. Sunday, 12 men, 3 women, 2 boys and a girl arrived at Mile Marker 92 near Harry Harris Park. They told authorities that each paid $5,000 to be brought to the Keys aboard a 19-foot wooden boat.

Six hours later, 17 people -- 9 men, 4 women, 2 boys and 2 girls -- showed up in Tavernier, saying they had arrived earlier on the Gulf side of the Keys. No boat was found.

At 11:45 p.m. Sunday, 7 men, 5 women, a boy and 2 girls were found near Mile Marker 103, saying they'd left Cuba the previous day on a 25-foot white wooden boat and had been dropped off by smugglers after paying $8,000 each.

At 6 p.m. Monday, 8 men and a woman were sighted on a vessel near Angelfish Creek. When authorities approached, they jumped into the water and began swimming to shore.

At 9:30 p.m. Monday, 8 men, 7 women, a boy and a girl arrived in Tavernier. The boat was seized at a dock where it had been left.

Late Monday night, the Border Patrol received a call from Miami Beach Police, saying they had a Cuban in custody. The man told police he had been on a boat with four others, who ran away while he waited for police.

Early Tuesday, Beach police reported holding four other Cubans. However, the first man said he didn't know them.

Geoghegan said Meissner's memo was a blow to South Florida's law enforcement community.

``When her memo came out, the mood was discouraging,'' Geoghegan said. ``This encourages people to come here. A year and a day later they get a green card. It was a discouraging development.''

e-mail: ycolon@herald.com and sbellido@herald.com