By CHRISTOPHER MARQUIS
Herald Staff Writer
The Clinton administration has been quietly pressing the Cuban government for more than two years to take back some Cuban migrants who have entered the country illegally, U.S. officials confirmed Thursday.
The effort -- rebuffed by Havana and not made public -- signals the second major blow to a special immigration status conferred on Cuban migrants decades ago.
The confirmation came after a top Cuban official revealed in Havana on Thursday that the U.S. government is considering ending preference for Cubans who land on U.S shores illegally.
The statement was made by Ricardo Alarcon, president of the Cuban National Assembly, who led the Cuban delegation during two days of talks with U.S. officials in Havana on existing immigration agreements.
Members of the U.S. delegation who met with reporters at the end of the talks earlier in the day said nothing about such a proposal. John Hamilton, the assistant deputy secretary of state who led the U.S. delegation, said the talks were ``full, comprehensive and frank'' but dealt only with ``technical'' details.
Alarcon said the idea was raised during the talks.
``It was a U.S. suggestion,'' Alarcon told a news conference.
Last year, the United States agreed to send back all Cuban refugees found on the high seas, in hopes of preventing a recurrence of the Cuban boat exodus of 1994, when tens of thousands of Cubans set out in flimsy rafts to reach the United States.
Now, the United States is talking about extending that policy to those who actually reach U.S. shores, in a measure that would be retroactive to May of last year, Alarcon said.
In Miami, U.S. Rep. Lincoln Diaz-Balart expressed outrage at the idea.
``This is the Clinton administration's worst aggression against Cubans,'' the Republican congressman said. ``It doesn't surprise me because I already had information [about this].
``I think all the organizations in this [Cuban-American] community must organize an unprecedented demonstration to condemn this infamy and demand that it not be carried out,'' he said.
On Wednesday, Diaz-Balart said he had learned that U.S. officials were working on a new agreement with Havana. The Department of State denied that this was the case.
The two-day meeting in Havana was the highest-level negotiation between the United States and Cuba since Cuban MiG jets shot down two U.S. civilian planes in February, causing a crisis in already hostile relations.
The two sides agreed to continue the discussions and meet again in another three to four months.
``We believe the accords are achieving their purpose of encouraging a safe, legal and orderly migration between our two countries,'' Hamilton said.
Cuban officials claim the United States has violated the immigration agreements by failing to return hijackers of airplanes and ships. The United States says it is upholding the agreement -- and international law -- by prosecuting such cases in the United States.
U.S. officials have said Cuba in general has complied with its promise not to harass returned exiles, though the United States has several times urged Cuba to reduce the $600 in fees it charges people who have been granted visas to emigrate -- fees so high that thousands of people have been unable to use visas granted by the United States.
Copyright © 1996 The Miami Herald