Does anyone remember asylum seeker Elian Gonzalez?

[rantiquity]

Originally Posted by TimAZ

This is how Democrats treated Cuban immigrants during the Clinton Administration, and these were folks who actually had legitimate asylum claims. Can someone please explain the difference in policy today (other than blatant hypocrisy)?

Elian Gonzalez was a child at the time and his case had nothing to do with "asylum" it was a custody dispute. His family in Miami wanted to make it about asylum but the courts ruled against them...end of story.

[rantiquity]

Originally Posted by Travelassie

Apparently that was not true in Elian's case.

Originally Posted by Toxic Waltz

Yes it was.

I watched a documentary on Elian Gonzalez a while back and the boy seemed to doing okay. He was playing sports and looked happy enough.

[McGowdog]

Originally Posted by lionking

Do you want the dirty truth?, I'll tell you.

I grew up in south Miami and lived there at the time besides what you heard or saw regarding the political take on this, the truth is division among race showed it's ugly truth and people took sides based on it. I saw a protest one day during this on U.S HWY 1 in Cutler Ridge ( now called Cutler Bay). So I decided to walk it a bit and ask questions. There white and black people protesting together to send the kid back. Thing is they were waving American and Confederate flags.

Standing next to a white guy with a Confederate flag was a black guy, I asked him "why are you protesting in favor with Confederate flags waving around?" He replied "that is another issue for another day but today I am tired of these Cubans taking jobs away from black people". Of course the white people were protesting along the same racial lines.

On the other side Cubans were flying Cuban flags (and some American flags) to protest in favor of letting the kid stay. My company who's management were Cuban even closed the store for a day so people could protest which they never would have done for any other cause.

The kid was a pawn by everybody, when you interact everyday with people everybody gets along fine, but make no mistake hate festers in too many people and too many people take sides on race when certain things arise.

That is the ugly truth.

And now the border is in chaos with people coming over from all over the world who have nothing in common with each other and at any given time dislike each other.

Rubbish.

I had two brothers and have numerous other family living throughout Florida and we know some history that reads differently than your snapshot perspective.

Cubans that we know are Proud American Citizens and they came over here and got it done the right way. Americans I know, regardless of flags waved, race, creed, color, etc. believe in becoming United States of Americans doing it the right way, having done it the right way, and having planned to do it the right way.

Having some poor young child getting a shot at the American Dream didn't bounce the Richter Scale too high in my neck of the woods nor in the neck of my Floridian friends and family neither.

Did you know Cuban Americans are opposed to Illegal Immigration? I do, did and always will.