The Cuban Refugee Program by WILLIAM 1. MITCHELL*

FOR the first time in its hist,ory t,he United the President.‘s Contingency Fund under the Sbates has become a country of first asylum for Mutual Security Act a.nd partly, at first, from large numbers of displaced persons as thousands private funds. In his fin,al report,, Mr. Voorhe.es of Cuban refugees have found political refuge reported that the refugee problem had assumed here. For the first t,ime, also, the proportions requiring national attention and made Government. has found it necessary to develop a several recommendations aimed at its solution. program to help refugees from another nation in this hemisphere. The principal port of entry for these refugees ESTABLISHING THE PROGRAM has been, and is, , and most of them remain Secretary Ribicoff’s report t,o President Ken- in t.he Miami area. Many of t,he refugees quickly nedy reemphasized the need for a comprehensive exhaust any personal resources they may have. program of aid, and on February 3 the President The economic and social problems that they face directed the Secretary to take the following a.nd that they pose for Miami and for all of actions : southern are obvious. State and local 1. Provide all possible assistance to voluntary official and volunt,ary welfare agencies in the area relief agencies in providing d&y necessities for have struggled valiantly with these problems- many of the refugees, for resettling as many of problems of shelter, of food, of employment, of them as possible, and for securing jobs for them. schools, of public health that are too much for 2. Obtain the assistance of both private and any single commdnity to meet.. In keeping, there- governmental agencies to provide useful employ- fore, with the traditional policy of the United ment opportunities for displaced , con- Stat.es to grant asylum as long as t,hey need it to sistent with the overall employment situation people fleeing from oppression, the Federal prevailing in Florida. Government has stepped in. 3. Provide supplemental funds for the resettle- The national character of t,he problem was ment of refugees in other areas, including trans- recognized by President Kennedy in the first portation and adjustment costs to the new com- month of his administration. In a directive of munities and for their eventual return to Miami January 27, 1961, to the Secretary of Health, for repatriation to their homeland as soon as that Education, and Welfare, he asked Mr. Ribicoff to is again possible. undertake the responsibility, effective February 1, 4. Furnish financial assist,ance to meet, basic “for direct.ing the Cuban ,ivities now maintenance requirements of needy Cuban refugee being conducted by the Executive branch of the families in the Miami area as required in com- Federal Government. and to make an on-the-scene munities of resettlement, administered through investigation of the problem within the next week Federal, State, and local channels and based on as my personal representative. I want you to standards used in the community involved. make concrete my concern and sympathy for those 5. Provide for essential health sem&es through who have been forced from their homes in , the financial assistance program supplemented by and t.o assure them that we shall seek t.o expedite child health, public health services, and other their voluntary return as soon as condit.ions there arrangements as needed. facilitate that,.” 6. Furnish Federal assistance for loc& pu,blic Earlier, in November 1960, President Eisen- school operating costs related to t,he unforeseen hower had directed Tracy S. Voorhees to look impact of Cuban on local teach- into the Cuban refugee situation as his repre- ing facilities. sentative. Under t,he direction of Mr. Voorhees, 7. 1nitiat.e needed measures to augment train- a Cuban Refugee Emergency Center was estab- ing a.nd educational opportunities for Cuban libhed in Miami. The Center was financed from refugees, including physicians, teachers, and those * Commissioner of Social Security. with other professional backgrounds.

BULLETIN. MARCH 1962 2 8. Provide financial aid for the care and unaccompanied children, and financial assistance. protection of unaccompanied children-the most Maximum use has also been made of the defenseless and troubled group among the refugee resources within t,he Department, of Health, population. Education, and Welfare--the Office of Education 0. Undertake a surplus food distribution pro- and the Public Health Service, as well as the gram to be administered by the county welfare Bureau of Family Services (formerly Bureau of department, with surplus foods distributed by Public Assistance) and the Children’s Bureau of public and voluntary agencies to needy refugees. the Social Security Administration. Matters con- “I hope that these measures will be understood,” cerning employment, distribution of surplus com- the President said, “as an immediate expression modities, and the certification of the status of the of the firm desire of the people of the United refugees have been handled by the U.S. Employ- States to be of tangible assistance to the refugees ment Service in t.he Department of Labor, the unt,il such time as better circumstances enable Surplus Food Distribut.ion Branch of the Depart- them to return t,o their permanent homes in ment of ,Qgriculture, and the Immigration and health, in confidence, and wi-ith unimpaired pride.” Service of the Department of Overall responsibilit,y for the emergency pro- Justice. gram was assigned to Secret.ary Ribicoff, who At the State level the Florida Department of delegated to the Commissioner of Social Security Public Welfare acts as the agent of the Federal the responsibility for organizing and coordinating Government in administering financial assistance the necessary services. The sum of $2 million was and welfare services for needy refugees and for allocated from the President’s Contingency Fund unaccompanied children. It also distributes sur- for operation of the program in t.he fiscal year plus commodities. The Florida State Board of 1960-61.1 Health aided in establishing the health program. The definition of refugee, for the purposes of The Dade County school system has provided the program, is somewhat broader than t,hat used elementary and high school education and summer by the Immigrat,ion and Naturalization Service. day camps for refugee children and an education Under the basic immigra.tion law, when a person program for adults. The Dade County Health becomes technically deportable-after his tem- Depart.ment has extended many of its health porary permit expires-he is ordinarily given a services to provide for refugee needs. short period of time in which to leave t.he count.ry. The voluntary agencies that have provided con- This is “voluntary departure.” If the person tinuing service under the Federal Government’s overstays that time, a warrant of arrest and direction include the National Catholic Welfare deportation proceedings is served. For the Cuban Conference, the Church Service, the refugees “indefinite voluntary departure” is au- United Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, and the thorized with no time limitation, and consequently International Rescue Committee. These agencies no deportation proceedings are initiated. administer the resettlement service. Other voluntary agencies-sectarian and non- sectarian, as well as institutions and individual DEVELOPING THE PROGRAM citizens (many of them Cuban) have and are playing an effective role in all aspects of the In keeping with the wishes of t,he President, program but particularly in the operation of the the program for the Cuban refugees has from the Cuban Refugee Emergency Center and in the beginning been designed to make full use of the resettlement program. resourm 0: existir-g Federal, St&e, and local nsld private-and particularly ~?UCWS with experience in working with The MaI pi includes aid to SETTING PROGRAM POLICY ~&I&Z S&C&S in the Miami area, health services, The organization and development of the pro- etanpmt gervicq resettlement, foster care for gram have been guided by certain definite policies. From the beginning the refugees have been con- ‘dQbftssrta1 allocations from the President’s Contin- sidered not as intruders but as friends. Efforts r Ermd have been made during the flscal year 1961- in their behalf have been regarded not as burdens

4 SOCIAL SECURITY but as opportunities for service to fellow Refugee Center. More than 16,000 persons have Americans, to be given with understanding and been resettled through the program; another generosity. Every effort is made to leave the 16,000 have relocated on their own initiative or refugees free to choose their own destiny and the with t,he help of friends. Even with the sub- place in which to work it out. At the proper stantial numbers leaving the area, t,he refugee time, they will be helped to return home if that population in the Dade County area-more t’han is their desire. To relieve the pressure on Miami’s 55,000 persons at the end of the year-continues overburdened resources, however, and to reduce to groi. the need for continuing financial aid, the emphasis There are, of course, many refugees who do not has been placed on the desirability of resettlement register at the Center, and not all of those who in other sections of the country and overseas. apply for registration qualify for the status of For those who find resettlement impractical refugee. Most of them do arrive in a state of and who, for one reason or another, cannot sup- destitution, but not all need or qualify for cash port themselves, provision is made for furnishing assistance. Out of every 20 registered refugees, the necessities of life. Such help is given in cash 1’7 apply for and 16 receive some measure of cash and in such a manner as to preserve the dignity assistance. and pride of the recipients. The levels of help are By and large, the refugees from Cuba are well- in keeping with those provided United States educated men and women. They come from every nationals in similar circumstances. walk of life. More than a, third of t,hose heading Finally, it was believed undesirable to establish a family had been in professional, semiprofes- refugee camps or to provide any facility that sional, or managerial occupations; they are might serve as an encouragement to perpetuate a doctors, dent,ists, lawyers, engineers, architects, refugee’s dependent status. authors, clergymen, chemists, musicians, artists, In the earliest stages of the program, in and educators. Almost, a third of the entire group December 1960, it was found necessary to estab- had been employed in clerical, selling, or skilled lish a Refugee Emergency Center in Miami. The work. Fewer than a fourth had no special skills Center served as t,he catalyst required to produce or were semiskilled workers. a cooperative effort,, without which there could be More than half t,he entire faculty of the Uni- no hope of success. Here the talents and resources versity of was reported ejrly in 1961 to of public and private agencies were fused into a be living in or near Miami. President Kennedy, in major cooperative enterprise making possible a his directive of February 3, expressed particular valid assessment of the problem and effective interest in this group. The “cultural and liberal action to meet it. traditions for which this faculty has been justly In the new and expanded program the Center noted,” he said, “represents a great inter-American has been continued as the focal point of t,he asset, for their own people, for this country and Federal program. Among other functions, the for the entire hemisphere.” Center registers and obt,ains important social in- Three-fourt.hs of the registered refugees are formation about the refugees; provides, through between the ages of 20 and 50-generally the the U.S. Employment Service, job counseling most productive years. About one-fourth are aged and job development services; coordinates the 21-30; one-third aged 30-40 ; and only about 6 activities of the voluntary agencies and the percent are under age 20 and 9 percent aged 60 special assistance unit of the Florida Depart,ment or over. About 60 percent are men. Probably 25 of Public Welfare; and serves as a central point percent speak English well or at least well enough for information. These activities, with a health to hold jobs in this country. clinic operated by the Dade County Health De- The refugees are proud and resourceful people. partment, are all physically housed in the Center. They maintain their courage despite the disrup- tion of their lives. They do not wish to be objects of charity, and they apply for aid only in ex- tremity. They are grateful for the aid they do WHO ARE THE REFUGEES receive, and in some hundreds of cases they have From February through December of 1961 voluntarily returned at least part of the money about 87,000 persons were registered at the Miami paid to them under the assistance program. From

BULLETIN, MARCH 1962 5 May through December 1961, for example, vol- start. This staff will undertake an intensive pro- untary repayments totaling $119,930 were re- gram of job interviews to pinpoint the present ceived. During December alone, 874 refugees skills of the refugees, a concentration on match, voluntarily repaid $48,873.97. ing of job skills to positions available around the country, a strong program of job promotion by contacting potential employers, and a stepped-up RESETTLEMENT program of vocational counseling. At the same time a program of information and Resettlement is a difficult problem. It is not publicity has been launched, independently and easy for men and women who have already in support of similar activity on the part of vol- suffered a sharp break in their pattern of living untary agencies. The effort is to make the country to strike out again and alone, in a strange country aware of the existence of a large pool of skilled whose people speak a strange language. In the persons in Miami for whom jobs and positions face of these and other handicaps, a remarkable need to be found. job has been done by the voluntary agencies, upon A parallel information program is being di- whom has fallen the major burden of resettlement. rected at the Cuban refugees themselves. Here The resettlement service offered to refugees, the object is to allay t.heir fears about taking up, by agreement with the voluntary resettlement hopefully, temporary residence in some other part agencies, ensures that at the place of resettlement of the country or overseas and to help them make they will have initial living accommodations, em- ready to adjust comfortably to an unfamiliar ployment or, in some instances, assistance in find- environment. The voluntary and public agencies, ing employment, and other necessities that will to do their part of the job effectively, aim always help them in building a new and satisfying life at improving the quality and quantity of the in a new country. The cost of resettlement- information given to the refugees about the re- includingtransportation, incidental expenses, and settlement offered and conditions at the point of a service charge-is borne by the Federal resettlement. A pilot project-“One Cuban Re- Government. settles Another”--engaging the systematic efforts By the end of 1961 a total of 16,532 refugees of resettled Cubans in assisting other Cubans to had been resettled ; the average cost was about resettle, has been successful and will be expanded. $130. Refugees have relocated in all the States The rate of resettlement has been increasing but Alaska and in , the Virgin gradually, although many refugees are reluctant Islands, and 16 countries overseas. The largest to leave the Miami area. Existing personal numbers have found homes and jobs in associations, climate, fear of isolation, and desire State, areas of Florida outside Miami, New for proximity to their homeland are given as Jersey, , and . Puerto Rico has reasons for their unwillingness to accept resettle- absorbed about 5 percent of all the refugees re- ment. settled, in addition to some thousands who have gone there directly from Cuba. To expedite and increase resettlements the FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE AND OTHER Cuban Refugee Emergency Center was reor- WELFARE SERVICES ganized in November 1961. A deputy director for resettlement was appointed whose sole respon- Financial assistance is intended as a temporary sibility is to coordinate the efforts of all the expedient to tide over the refugee who is in need agencies already involved in resettlement and to until the time he can take care of himself- tap all other sources not yet contributing to the hopefully by returning to a free Cuba but in the effort. meantime by taking his place as an independent, In consultation and cooperation with the U.S. self-supporting person in the economy of this Employment Service the permanent staff of the country. Job Placement Unit was increased. In addition, The Florida Department of Public Welfare for a period of some months the Employment administ,ers, as the agent of the Federal Govern- Service is contributing the services of 6 bilingual ment, a cash assistance program to needy refugees specialists so that the job can get off to a good living in Dade County and provides social serv-

6 SOCIAL SECURITY ices to them and to refugee children living wit,11 HELP FOR UNACCOMPANIED CHILDREN parents or relatives. The program is financed by A substantial number of children, mostly the Federal Government. In substance, the criteria between the ages of 5 and 16, have come to this for determining the amount of financial assistance country from Cuba, unaccompanied by their given to the refugees are those set by the State parents or others acting in the place of parents. for its own citizens similarly situated. Included Many parents prefer this separation t.o the risks in the financial assistance program is provision involved in having their children indoctrinated for hospitalization for obstetrical care and acute with an ideology hateful to them. conditions, with a maximum of 30 days. In addi- These children are fully provided for under tion, surplus agricultural commodities are being group care or in individual foster homes. The provided. actual service in their placing and care is done Two modifications have been made in the by voluntary agencies, although the Florida De- general Florida welfare criteria. The original partment of Public Welfare, acting as the agent maximum of $100 a month for both single-person of the Federal Government, gives general super- cases and multi-person family cases was found to vision. Every effort is made to ensure that the be inequitable. Accordingly, single-person cases personalities of these children will not be dam- now receive a maximum of $60 a month, and the aged by their trying experiences and that they maximum for family cases is left at $100. will be restored to their families at the first The Cuban refugees are, on the whole, men and possible moment. Other children, who have women who in their own country had never become separated from their parents or whose needed or received assistance. Having to accept parents are temporarily unable to provide for aid is one of the hardships they have reluctantly them, are being taken care of through the same assumed as “ for conscience’s sake.” Those welfare channels. who have left Cuba since December of 1960 could By December 31, 1961, the number of refugee bring with them their clothing but little else. children in foster-family homes or receiving in- They could and can bring no furniture and only stitutional care had reached 2,309. About a third 5 depreciated pesos-worth perhaps 50 cents. were being cared for in the Miami area, and most Here they must rent furnished quarters. They of the others were in homes or institutions in the face the seasonal fluctuations in rentals that are eastern part of the country. The program has normal in the Dade County communities. Because supplied care, for varying periods, for about 3,000 they have-literally-nothing, their unmet needs children. About 1,000 have been reunited with are, on the average, higher than the needs of their families after a period of care under the aid others receiving public assistance. program. Foster-care payments from the end of Public assistance is also available at the point February 1961 to the close of the year totaled of resettlement to registered refugees who have $2,097,980. been resettled through the initiative of the vorun- tary agencies working :n this field. If a resettle- ment is unsuccessful because of health, for ex- EDUCATIONAL AND VOCATIONAL PROGRAMS ample, or failure on a first job, the resettled refugee is authorized to receive public assistance, The education program has been developed at the expense of the refugee program, under the largely by the U.S. Office of Education with the standards of the welfare agency in the community collaboration of the public school system of Dade where he has been resettled. Assistance is denied, County. To ease the burden on the public school however, if a person refuses a reasonable offer of system of Dade County resulting from the influx resettlement without adequate cause. of refugee children, the Federal Government re- From February 27, 1961, through the end of imburses the county for 50 percent of the cost per the year, a total of $8,451,308 had been paid in the pupil, including the expense of providing and forni of assistance to the refugees. At the end of maintaining facilities for all those attending the year, 21,294 cases were receiving assistance. grades 1 through 12. Tlie averjge family payment was about $90 ; Adult refugees need instruction in English in single-person cases received an average of about order to fit more readily into the society of the $53. United States and to qualify more readily for

BULLETIN, MARCH 1962 7 employment. Accordingly, Dade County has been ment services, as noted above, to ensure the given additional funds to finance such instruction effectiveness of both. for more than 6,000 adults and to give vocational Employment of refugees in the Miami area training to others. Funds have also been supplied presents difficult problems arising from a surplus for intensive English instruction for several of labor and the effect on going wage rates of a hundred young men headed for the Srmed Forces substantial influx of a large number of additional and for other adults-teachers, for example- jobseekers. Some public relations problems have whose special skills are in short supply. developed, but on the whole public understand- Specialized courses in English and refresher ing and acceptance of the situation have been courses in their own fields for doctors and commendable. dentists, as well as a small research project for economists, have been financed at the . CONCLUSION Federal funds have also been allocated for making loans t,o Cuban &dents who would other- The last previous large-scale movement of refu- wise have had to interrupt their college work. gees to engage the efforts of the Unit,ed States These loans are made on substantially the same Government resulted in the Refugee Relief Pro- terms and conditions as loans to United States gram of 1953-56. Perhaps the best-remembered student,s under the National Defense Act. part of this program was the reception and re- location of the Hungarian Freedom Fight,ers in 1956. In no case was t,he United States the country HEALTH SERVICES of first asylum for the 190,000 persons who came to this country under the Refugee Relief Pro- Refugees registering at the Center are screened gram. The Federal Government’s role was largely for contagious diseases and are given consultation limited to the issuance of visas to permit entry with respect to other health problems. A few into the country. cases of tuberculosis have been discovered and The present Cuban program differs from that arrangements made for long-term care. out- program in several substantial respects. The patient medical care is provided at three general issuing of visas and visa waivers or the adjust- hospital outpatient clinics, with Federal reim- ment of the status of t.he alien is only the begin- bursement at $3 a visit. Emergency and corrective ning of the Federal Government’s role. The more dental care is also provided. important and more visible role is one of relief, Through the Dade County Health Department, guidance, and-hopefully-temporary relocation. other health services have been arranged, includ- The Federal Government is not only assisting the ing immunization, maternal and child health individual refugee but the burdened communities services, and environmental sanitation super- of sout,hern Florida. vision. Members of the Dade County Medical At the end of 1961, Cuban refugees were con- Association make home calls without charge when tinuing to register at the Cuban Refugee Emer- requested by the county health o&e. gency Center at the rate of about 2,000 persons a week. Unless there are major changes in policy, substantial numbers of refugees will continue to EMPLOYMENT SERVICE arrive. The U.S. Employment Service maintains rec- The handling of this situation can be regarded ords of the work history and educational back- as a problem or as an opportunity for the United ground of all registered refugees. These records States. It is more rewarding to consider it as an are used in an effort to match skills with available opportunity to demonstrate this country’s humane job opportunities away from Dade County. The dynamics, competence, and capacity for construc- work done in this unit is coordinated with resettle- tive social action.

SOCIAL SECURITY