Wet Foot, Dry Foot

The announcement late Wednesday that the Coast Guard planned to bring eight survivors of the crash of a small Cuban plane to the United States could greatly improve their chances for getting asylum, if that is what they seek.

One passenger, Rodolfo Fuentes, who was badly injured in the crash, was immediately brought to Miami for treatment.

The other eight survivors were to be transferred from the cargo ship that rescued them to a Coast Guard cutter that will bring them to the U.S. for medical evaluation.

When asked about Fuentes' status, Maria Cardona, an INS spokeswoman in Washington, noted he was now on U.S. soil.

"Essentially if a person makes it to U.S. soil and they are eligible, and they want to stay, then they would be eligible to apply for residency," she said.

The crash has again put the spotlight on U.S. treatment of would-be Cuban exiles, which took center-stage during the saga of Elian Gonzalez, reports CBS News Correspondent Bobbi Harley.

"I can imagine there will be a lot of questions about what should be done with the people who were found alive," said President Clinton Tuesday. "I think the most important thing now is just to worry about their care."

The scrutiny comes at a prickly time, just before scheduled migration talks on Thursday between Cuban and U.S. officials in New York.

U.S. law lets Cubans apply for residency if they reach U.S. soil. Ordinarily, those captured at sea are returned to Cuba.

"It's called wet foot, dry foot," explained Cuban affairs expert Pam Falk. "If a Cuban refugee lands on U.S. soil, they're pretty much able to stay. If they're picked up on the high seas, they have to prove a case for political asylum."

Authorities were also trying to figure out whether Tuesday's crash—in which one man died—came at the end of a hijacking or whether the group left Cuba to flee the communist country. The distinction could help determine whether the survivors—three men, three women and three children—qualify for asylum in the United States.

Cuba says the plane was stolen, but it was initially reported as a hijacking.

While the U.S. did not treat the 1991 theft of a Cuban MIG fighter plane by Orestes Lorenzo as a criminal act, hijacking a plane is air piracy.

"There is a great interest by the U.S. government in discouraging hijacking," said former INS counsel Paul Virtue. "People's lives are put at risk in such operations."

Falk says a charge of air piracy would likely be prosecuted in the U.S, not in Cuba.

Also important is the political status of the survivors.

"If they pass the 'credible fear' test they will be taken to Guantanamo Bay," said Cardona. "If they do not, they will be repatriated to Cuba."

To pass that test, Cardona said, migrants must demonstrate a fear of persecution if returned to their home country, "based on nationality, race, religion, political opinion or membership in a particular social group."

One of the Cuban exile groups that fought a court battle to keep Gonzalez in Miami said the crash survivors should be granted asylum.

A spokeswoman for the Miami-based Cuban exile group Cuban American National Foundation (CANF), Ninoska Perez, urged U.S. authorities to take into consideration what might happen to the group if they were sent back to Cuba.

"Even if they were not persecuted at the time they left will be when they return," she said.

The next big question is what happens to the three children. Just as in the case of Gonzalez, INS officials must learn which relatives are alive, where they live and who wants the children.

"What's complicated about minors is that of course, there might be family in Cuba, particularly parents who would like them back," said Falk. "That was the complicating case in Elian Gonzalez and that could be the complication here."
A family member of two brothers on the flight said their father lives in Miami.

One Miami father interviewed by CBS News through an interpreter believes his two sons were plane. While he's worried about whether one of them was the man who died, he says he's certain they left Cuba to join him.

It was not known for certain if he was the father of the brothers on the flight.

The communist government in Cuba says the confusing American immigration policy violates 1994 and 1995 migration accords with the United States aimed at encouraging orderly, legal immigration.

Havana maintains the policy practically invites Cubans to climb aboard rickety rafts and make the dangerous journey across the Florida Straits.