THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 3, 1994 TAG: 9412030280
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: KNIGHT-RIDDER NEWS SERVICE
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Short : 36 lines
Only children facing ``extraordinary hardship'' in the Cuban refugee camps at the U.S. Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay and in Panama will be paroled into the United States with their immediate families, federal officials announced Friday.
All 3,000 children in the camps will have their cases reviewed by the Justice Department, which has not set the precise standard for ``extraordinary hardship.'' If the children meet the criteria, their immediate families will travel with them to the United States. All refugees must have private sponsors to pay for resettlement here.
Government officials in both Miami and Washington had predicted the quick release of all children from the camps. The announcement fell short of that, but several congressional sources said the Clinton administration is simply taking gradual steps to free the refugees to test Cuba's reaction.
At a press conference, Immigration Commissioner Doris Meissner defined extraordinary hardship as a serious long-term illness, a physical or mental disability or a similar ``extreme'' condition.
The quality of life in the camps ``does not in itself constitute a hardship,'' Meissner said. ``It is obviously a difficult situation, but we have been making extraordinary efforts to improve the camps.''
Meissner and other officials refused to predict how many children will be eligible for the ``humanitarian parole'' Reno will offer. by CNB