As I mentioned many Cubans have made the journey to the United States on rafts barely suitable as pool toys. They take to these rafts. known as balsas. risking death from dehydration. starvation. and exposure. We know of thousands of Cuban refugees who have made it to United States shores this way and can only guess at how many have perished on their journey. I notice it has been reported in the papers. unfortunately. a mother who is dying in Miami right now. is dying because she drank saltwater during her trip on the raft because she had given her bottle of fresh water to her 10yearold son. who was also traveling toward the shores of freedom. There are other Cuban immigrants. as well. who have traded their privileged lives for lives of freedom that their wealth could not buy in Cuba. These individuals have left behind careers as doctors. engineers. professors. and Journalists in order to live freely as manual laborers and street sweepers. Not only have all of these brave individuals taken risks to make the trip to the United States. their very intentions placed them and their families at risk of persecution should these intentions have been discovered.
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refugees immigrants