Issue 6: Miami-Dade County - The Refugee Haven
Refugees from the Caribbean have shaped Miami-Dade. A look at Cuban and Haitian populations in Florida.
(READER NOTE!!!!! - This is a detailed post, and substack is likely to “clip” it in your email. Most of you should see an option to expand the article. If not, you can go to my main substack page. If you haven’t seen a “CONCLUSION” header, you haven’t read it all).
The news out of the Caribbean over the last several days has rocked the region. A political crisis in Haiti has only gotten worse due to the assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. The poor nation was already in the middle of a rapidly worsening crisis as political debate raged of the powers and term of the President - with lawlessness rising in the wake of the gridlock. The assassination has only made the situation worse. Meanwhile, Cuba is being rocked by protests as citizens demand democracy and better living conditions.
Cuba’s dictatorship is not new and Haiti’s instability is a norm. The decades of crisis on the islands have resulted in massive refugee influxes from the islands and into the United States. Florida has taken in the bulk of these refugees, and their flight has transformed the state. No area has seen greater transformation than Miami-Dade County.
Miami-Dade: Refugee Haven
As stated, Miami-Dade County has been transformed by the many refugee crises that have plagued both nations. Since the 1950s, Dade has gone from nearly 80% white to just 20%.
Today, Miami-Dade is a rich tapestry of voters of many races and nationalities.
There are MANY REASON Miami-Dade is so diverse now. But two main groups I will focus on for this issue is Cuban and Haitian residents.
The Cuban Exiles
The biggest change in the county population has been the massive influx of Hispanic voters. Now, by no means is Miami-Dade’s Hispanic community just Cuban. Growing populations of Argentinian, Columbia, Venezuelan, Peruvian, and Central American settle in the area. However, Miami-Dade currently is the undisputed capital of the United States’ Cuban population.
The massive influx of Cuban Americans began in the 1960s with the elevation of Fidel Castro as dictator. Castro’s communist dictatorship was a replacement for the right-wing dictatorship of Fulgencio Batista. Lets just get this out of the way now, all dictatorship is bad. Ok? I don’t care about your politics. Dictatorship = bad.
Anyway, Castro began the first surge of Cuban refugees from the island. Many, but by no means most, of these first “exiles” (the common phrase) were more middle class and wanted to avoid the seizure of wealth and property of the regime. However, this influx also included refugees fleeing for their lives due to the dictatorships willingness to kill, imprison, and torture dissidents.
Another massive surge of refugees came in 1980 with the Mariel Boatlift. During a period of unrest due to supply shortages, Castro told protestors that they could leave Cuba if they wished. The result was a mass exodus of Cuban residents. In total, 120,000 people fled the island between April and October. 86,000 of those were in May alone! The US tried to discourage such travel, but eventually had no choice but to accept the refugees. The ordeal saw Cuban’s living in Florida ride boats over to the island to get friends and family. (Think Dunkirk).
Even after the influx was slowed down, refugees from Cuban continued to arrive in smaller numbers. The US agreed to resettle the refugees and grant them residential status. The Clinton administration would eventually set up the infamous “wet foot, dry foot” policy - which said that if you made it to land, you could stay; but if you were caught by the coast guard on the water, you were sent back. This policy was ended by Obama. The policy was no doubt influenced by the Cuban Governments’ communist nature (even post Cold War). However, the fact the island is only 90 miles from Key West is often overlooked.
Current concentration of Cuban Voters.
Haitian Refugee Crisis
Refugees from Haiti, which sits 600 miles away from Florida, do not come close to the same levels as those from Cuba. Part of this is distance and resources; the other is an unwillingness of the US to grant the same refugee and asylum status to Haitian refugees as Cuban. The US has often argued the refugees from Haiti are economic, not political. True enough, Haiti is incredible poor - a situation that has been exasperated by the Western powers.
However, many refugees are political. The nation has been unstable and ruled by dictators off and on for decades. In South Florida, the name of François Duvalier, or “Papa Doc” is well known. Papa Doc: The Voodoo Tyrant of Haiti, ruled the nation from 1957 to 1971. He was a brutal dictator that suppressed his people and left the nation poorer than it started. He was a Voodoo practitioner and used the allure of voodoo, something still well engrained in Haitian culture at the time (in a unique blend with the Catholic Church), to maintain control. Well, that an the army. Papa Doc even claimed a voodoo curse he placed was the thing that killed JFK!
There is some talk that Dr. Facilier, of “Princess and the Frog” is inspired by Baron Samedi - a spirit of Haitian Voodoo that Papa Doc built his personality cult around.
Papa Doc is not well known today (based on this totally scientific twitter poll I did). Many who kind of know who is tend to say things like “he was the voodoo guy right?" Growing up in South Florida, Papa Doc was well known.
After Papa Doc’s death, his son, Jean-Claude Duvalier, took over. He was called Baby Doc!
It was during this transition that refugees fleeing the country kicked into higher gear. It continued to pick up after Baby Doc was overthrown in 1986, and even more so in 1991, when Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who had been democratically elected, was ousted in a military coup.
Haitian refugees, as mentioned, did not get the same treatment as Cuban refugees. The long distance also made the trip much more dangerous - with countless drownings at sea.
Still, tens of thousands fled the nation over the years, many settling in Miami-Dade. The influx was so great that Lemon City (a neighborhood in the city of Miami) was renamed Little Haiti.
The Transformation of Miami-Dade’s Politics
The decades of immigration, both from refugees and not, transformed Miami-Dade.
The country rapidly grew in size and became much more diverse as a result. Tensions also rose from this change. As the Hispanic population caught up with the white population, the number of white residents in the county began to fall. Part of this was classic “white flight” but also a slow down in retirees moving Dade and instead moving to Broward or Palm Beach.
The immigration of Haitian and people from other Caribbean nations contributed to a stead rise in the black population as well. All told, around 100,000 Haitian-born residents reside in Florida - many in the Miami-Dade region.
The change in Miami-Dade’s demographics has led to no shortage of ethnic conflict. Books have been written about this, so I cannot do it justice in a substack newsletter people are likely reading through two bloodshot eyes. So let me just give a rough summary of some notable events.
Hispanic Rise and Backlash
(Note: I am reporting well-documented events and not taking sides)
As Hispanic voters began to win control of local governments, tensions rapidly rose. Not only did white residents see their power erased, but many black voters saw another group hop past them to take power. Backlash against the growing Hispanic population was most pronounced in 1980 when the county voted to affirm it would not be a bilingual county.
The referendum was a backlash against the rapidly rising rate of Spanish speaking in the county. The exit poll from the Miami Herald reveals a population angry about the refugee crisis. Many voters said their YES vote was a protest as well - saying they knew full well English only wasn’t a reality that was possible.
It was a mixed message though. The same day as the referendum, Hispanics won their first countywide office. Paul Cejas was elected to the school board.
In 1985, Miami would elect its first Cuban Mayor: Xavier Suarez. The results were very polarized between the Hispanic and Black population.
In the city of Miami, the tension rapidly grew between the black and Hispanic population. As Hispanics gained full control of voting in the city, and the use of at-large elections for commission seats, racial/politician tensions reached a boiling point.
In 1996, the city’s lone black commission lost re-election to a Cuban lawyer. The vote saw serious racial polarization.
The reaction was swift. With NAACP lawsuits threatened, Miami realized it needed to move to single-member districts in order to give the non-Hispanic population some representation. Districts were approved months later - in mid 1997. The move was largely backed by all sides.
On the pure partisan side, the rise of Hispanic registration correlated with a rise in Republican registration. Cuban Americans have long been solidly Republican, with their experiences with Castro making them weary of left-wing politics. Miami-Dades registration archives show the rise of Spanish speaking voters and GOP voters in a steady parrarel in the 1980s.
Of course, everyone remembers when Elián González was sent back to Cuba in 2000 and it for sure cost Al Gore the election. If you don’t know anything about this (aka you lived on Mars) - go watch the HBO documentary “537 Votes.”
Quickest summary ever.
Young Elian, his mother, and many others, get on a boat to sail to Florida from Cuba
Boat gets caught in storm, tragically the mother drowns. Elian found at sea, taken to Florida.
Elian’s father, still in Cuba, wants him returned home
Elian’s family in Florida want him to stay based on wishes of mother.
Cuban community 100% wants him to stay.
Based on the law, Elian’s father decides, he wants his son back.
After standoff, Elian is forcibly taken from his family home, returned to Cuba
Long story short, this image appeared on EASTER SUNDAY in the Miami-Herald.
And then this happened.
Law or whatever - this was the dumbest political move ever.
Rise of Haitian Political Power
Haitian residents-turned-voters have seen their political power grow the most in the northern regions of Miami-Dade county. Haitian politicians control the city of North Miami and in 2020 took control of the North Miami Beach commission. This rise, similar to the Hispanic rise, has led to plenty of ethnic tensions. The conflict isn’t just with white or Hispanic voters, but with non-Caribbean black voters. These tensions began in the 1990s and have not abated. A 2007 study by Miami-Dade county showed that 45% of Caribbean black residents considered their relationship with non-Caribbean black residents to be “poor.”
In addition to conflicts over political power, the non-Caribbean and Caribbean communities have plenty of policy difference. While heavily Democratic, Caribbean voters are, in general, more socially conservative. This has led to many GOP-aligned efforts to swing Caribbean, especially Haitian, voters to their side.
Democratic primaries in South Florida have featured plenty of Caribbean vs non-Caribbean black contests. In 2012, Congresswoman Frederica Wilson, who represents more Haitians than any other Congressperson, fended off a challenger from a candidate who had the explicit backing of the then-President of Haiti.
A democratic primary for HD107, that same year, saw a non-Haitian candidate, Barbara Watson, win by just 13 votes while her Haitian opponent, John Patrick Julien, dominated in the Haitian-heavy southern portion of the seat.
In 2016, Commissioner Dale Holness, who has a strong base with the Caribbean voters of his district (especially Jamaican voters), bested State Senator Chris Smith, who was much stronger with the non-Caribbean black community.
These dynamics will no doubt continue as time moves on. Dale Holness, btw, is currently running for the FL-20th - vacated by the death of Congressman Alcee Hastings.
Conclusion
So, this was a lot, and it barely scratched the surface. What does the current situation mean for the countries and the United States? Time will tell. One thing is certain. The possibility for events in the Caribbean to drastically shape the politics in the United States - and especially Florida - is well documented.