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some refugees are so tired of being referred to as the troublemakers,
they have formed groups to patrol the streets and assist the police
in crime fighting. Another response to the problems is the formation
of Miami Citizens Against Crime, a civic group whose voice was
influential in the formation of Vice President Bush's Task Force on
South Florida Crime (Stein, 1982).
The government
Upon entering the U.S., the immigrants were given the status of
"entrant" rather than "refugee," thus removing the possibility of
federal refugee assistance made available to the two previous Cuban
cohorts (Cuban/Haitian Entrant Program Operating Manual, 1981). On
November 4, 1980, voters decided that Dade County would no longer
function bilingually, and voted to cease the expenditure of county
funds to utilize any language other than English. The anti-bilingual
controversy is considered a grass roots movement against the Cubaniza-
tion of the Miami area. This movement has some support in other parts
of Florida. Anti-bi1ingual legislation continues to be debated in the
Florida Legislature (Melby, 1982; Watts, 1982).
In spite of the fact that Florida has been a recipient of a large
share of the legal and illegal immigration, it received less than half
of the federal funds made available to the states for immigrant assis
tance during the period of 1980-81. The bulk of the financial responsi
bility has shifted from the federal government resources to the state
and counties receiving the impact of the Cuban migration. The resulting
financial drain on local and state resources has presented the local
citizenry with another strong reason not to want to accept the new
Cubans.