81
On October 1, 1980, Congress passed the Refugee Education
Assistance Act of 1980 to help defray the costs of refugees which have
been incurred by the state and local governments (Department of Health
and Rehabilitative Services, 1982). The political debate over the
appropriation and use of these funds continues as of this writing.
Not only did these Cuban immigrants not receive the warm welcome
experienced by the golden exiles of the Early Departure stage, or
even the consideration given those of the Family Reunion stage, they
were rebuffed in a variety of different ways.
The media
Press coverage of this immigration has been notoriously biased
against the immigrants. Lieberman (1982) finds that the newspapers
". . exaggerate the health and criminal threats posed by the
immigrants and, therefore, inflame the prejudicial attitudes of native
Miamians" (p. 10). Kelly, Diederich, and McWhirter (1981) and Chaze
and Lyons (1982) document the rise in crime in Florida over the past
decade and attribute it to the recent Cuban influx. It is interesting
to note the graphics and information provided by these articles show
the crime rate in south Florida was steadily increasing during the
1970s. The Cubans who are supposed to have accounted for most of the
increase did not arrive until the point at which the final measurement
was taken. Other news articles attribute the decline in tourism in
south Florida, in part, to the fear of the criminal element, seen as
largely being the 1980 Cubans (see Gy lien haal, 1981, and Silva, 1981,
for a review of national press coverage). Silva (1982a) finds that