The Elian Gonzalez Case: A blessing for Republicans

This specific case is what drew me to this topic. In 2000, a heated controversy came upon the city of Miami. Elian Gonzalez was a young boy who journeyed by raft with his mother and seven other Cubans. Unfortunately, the mother and seven other with him passed away, leaving Elian alone to be found by the coast guard. Although under the policy, Elian should have been sent back, the coast guard put him under the watch of his family living in Miami while Elian waited for the hearing. Elian’s father although remained in Cuba, providing conflict over his return. This created much upheaval within Miami’s Cuban community as a result of the belief that Elian should be allowed to stay and not be sent back to "hell". Unfortunately, he was sent back and this caused the community to question the Clinton- Gore administration. This created large number of Cuban American voters to vote for the Bush Administration.

This however raises many issues. Cubans have now become blind republican voters. Which means that there could be party divisions on the issues of Cuban immigration. Republicans, because they are secured the vote of Cuban Americans could have biases towards immigration, which would not only be selfish but also undemocratic.By doing so, they may neglect other immigrants such as Haitians and so forth. However, recently the Democratic Party has been working to better their relations with Cubans and show that they too can help their cause.