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103 Monthly Lab. Rev. 39 (1980)
The New Cuban Immigrants: Their Background and Prospects

handle is hein.journals/month103 and id is 993 raw text is: The new Cuban immigrants: their background and prospects Samples from immigration data show that most early arrivals were young working-age men, that education and skill levels are above average for Cuba, and that the number of ex-offenders is significant but includes many jailed for political reasons ROBERT L. BACH In mid-April 1980, the Cuban government, by announc- ing it had withdrawn protection from the Florida cor- ridor, triggered the flight of more than 123,000 new Cuban refugees to the United States. This might have been merely the latest addition to the exodus that began in 1959, except that from the outset neither the Cuban nor U.S. governments had control over the character or volume of the immigrants. Cuban President Fidel Cas- tro had evidently underestimated the response to the advertised opportunity to leave. And the U.S. tradition of accepting Cuban refugees with open arms was sud- denly strained by the potential burden of unknown numbers of new immigrants landing in south Florida. Much of the confusion and bewilderment that caught reporters' eyes and overwhelmed some local officials re- sulted from the international political dilemma and, specifically, the Carter Administration's delay in declar- ing a legal status for the Cubans. The Administration faced a tough policy question. The historical open-door policy for Cuban immigrants and the Cuban-American community's expectations that this group would be treated the same argued for accepting them quickly and giving them full refugee status under the Refugee Act of 1980. Foreign policy reinforced this view: once again, here was a demonstration of the failure of the Castro government. Yet the Administration was wary not to create in Robert L. Bach is assistant professor of sociology, State University of New York, Binghamton. haste an unwarranted precedent. Unlike the previous flows, this one lacked order and due process, making it impossible to screen undesirables before their departure from Cuba.' There was also the possibility that to em- brace these migrants as refugees would open the Florida coast to an onslaught of Caribbean poor. Fifteen thou- sand Haitian boat people in Miami were enough to give substance to that concern. But clearly the most troublesome issue was the cost of resettlement. In a period of fiscal restraint and reces- sion, President Carter decided not to grant the Cubans the generous benefits of refugee status (for example, 100 percent Federal reimbursement of refugee assistance costs). Instead, in late June, the Administration an- nounced that the newcomers would be treated as appli- cants for asylum, and that special legislation would be sought to resolve both the Cuban and Haitian legal sta- tus issue. As a result, Cubans who arrived between April 21 and June 19 (and all Haitians processed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service before June 19) had their parole status extended for 6 months.2 This solution was fashioned in the face of a tough po- litical reality; in part, the consequence of an anti-immi- gration public sentiment characteristic of bad economic times. A Columbia Broadcasting System-New York Times poll, for example, found that almost half of those sampled nationwide opposed admitting more Cubans. Lack of jobs was a primary reason. The State Depart- ment received calls and telegrams that ran heavily against the boatlift, and Senator Lawton Chiles (Demo-

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