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Cuban Refugee Case Different than Gonzalez Case
Aired November 27, 2002 - 14:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Justice Department sources say a 14- year-old Cuban refugee will be allowed to stay in the U.S. with his father. The boy was found Monday on a boat off the Florida coast, three years to the day after Elian Gonzalez was found floating on an innertube. Authorities also picked up five adults and two suspected smugglers.
CNN's Mark Potter joins us now from Miami with the details -- Mark.
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. We're standing outside the Miami Federal Courthouse where just a short time ago, two men accused of smuggling five Cubans into the United States had their initial appearance in court. They appeared only briefly. They'll have a bond hearing on Friday. That's not an unusual occurrence here in Miami. These kinds of hearings involving alleged alien smuggling occur all the time here.
But what makes this a bit unusual is that it involves also a 14- year-old boy, who allegedly was among those smuggled, and there was a question for a while about whether he would be allowed into the United States.
Yesterday, it was decided that the boy, whose name we have been told by his attorney is Leonel Figarola Arozco (ph) would be allowed in. It was decided that he would come in as a material witness to testify against the two men who are accused of smuggling the rest. The boy was intercepted at sea Monday the 25th, and that created a bit of a stir here in this community because that is exactly three years to the day after Elian Gonzalez, and we all remember him, came into this community to become eventually an international sensation.
However, the attorney for the boy, the 14-year-old boy, is urging everyone here not to make any further comparison to the Elian Gonzalez case because there are a lot of differences between the two.
Now, here briefly is what happened. On Monday, the Coast Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, got a report that a boat, a 21-foot boat was having trouble, it was in distress in rough seas about 25 miles south of Key West. The Coast Guard found the boat, and it appeared that only two men were aboard at the time. The boat was brought into the dock at Key West, where it was discovered that there were six Cubans hidden inside the boat, five of them jumped out on to the dock, leaving one behind. That was the 14-year-old boy. He was unable to join the others on the dock. Among those people, his father. He was held by the Coast Guard, detained on a Coast Guard cutter, and the question became whether he should be sent back to Cuba. However, there were humanitarian concerns, federal officials discussed what to do, and finally decided yesterday to bring him into the United States as a material witness against the two men who operated the boat. They have been charged now with alien smuggling, and their court proceedings have begun. The U.S. Attorney's Office says it is taking this case very seriously, although it points out it is like all the other immigrant smuggling cases that have been seen in this community. A little bit of difference because of the 14-year-old boy, but again, federal authorities as well as the attorney are urging people not to see this as another case of Elian Gonzalez. Back to you.
PHILLIPS: Well, you and I know very well how much that case consumed our time, Mark. So that's good there's a lot of differences. Mark, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired November 27, 2002 - 14:41 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Justice Department sources say a 14- year-old Cuban refugee will be allowed to stay in the U.S. with his father. The boy was found Monday on a boat off the Florida coast, three years to the day after Elian Gonzalez was found floating on an innertube. Authorities also picked up five adults and two suspected smugglers.
CNN's Mark Potter joins us now from Miami with the details -- Mark.
MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. We're standing outside the Miami Federal Courthouse where just a short time ago, two men accused of smuggling five Cubans into the United States had their initial appearance in court. They appeared only briefly. They'll have a bond hearing on Friday. That's not an unusual occurrence here in Miami. These kinds of hearings involving alleged alien smuggling occur all the time here.
But what makes this a bit unusual is that it involves also a 14- year-old boy, who allegedly was among those smuggled, and there was a question for a while about whether he would be allowed into the United States.
Yesterday, it was decided that the boy, whose name we have been told by his attorney is Leonel Figarola Arozco (ph) would be allowed in. It was decided that he would come in as a material witness to testify against the two men who are accused of smuggling the rest. The boy was intercepted at sea Monday the 25th, and that created a bit of a stir here in this community because that is exactly three years to the day after Elian Gonzalez, and we all remember him, came into this community to become eventually an international sensation.
However, the attorney for the boy, the 14-year-old boy, is urging everyone here not to make any further comparison to the Elian Gonzalez case because there are a lot of differences between the two.
Now, here briefly is what happened. On Monday, the Coast Guard, the U.S. Coast Guard, got a report that a boat, a 21-foot boat was having trouble, it was in distress in rough seas about 25 miles south of Key West. The Coast Guard found the boat, and it appeared that only two men were aboard at the time. The boat was brought into the dock at Key West, where it was discovered that there were six Cubans hidden inside the boat, five of them jumped out on to the dock, leaving one behind. That was the 14-year-old boy. He was unable to join the others on the dock. Among those people, his father. He was held by the Coast Guard, detained on a Coast Guard cutter, and the question became whether he should be sent back to Cuba. However, there were humanitarian concerns, federal officials discussed what to do, and finally decided yesterday to bring him into the United States as a material witness against the two men who operated the boat. They have been charged now with alien smuggling, and their court proceedings have begun. The U.S. Attorney's Office says it is taking this case very seriously, although it points out it is like all the other immigrant smuggling cases that have been seen in this community. A little bit of difference because of the 14-year-old boy, but again, federal authorities as well as the attorney are urging people not to see this as another case of Elian Gonzalez. Back to you.
PHILLIPS: Well, you and I know very well how much that case consumed our time, Mark. So that's good there's a lot of differences. Mark, thank you.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
