Quoted:
Your were wrong on your first post above.... Elian was never "feet dry" per US policy as he was turned over to the Coast Guard before he reached US soil. There was never any doubt that Elian was an illegal alien and relatives consistently lost their counter-argument in appeals court.
The rest of the world's inhabitants do not deserve a better life in the US. What they specifically deserve is to make for a better life in their country. You have quite a liberal viewpoint on that and probably have more liberalism views than you realize.
I'm guessing that you were in middle or high school at the time, and was subjective to liberalism views of your teachers repeatedly?
Well, that does change some things, I'd forgotten the USCG picked them up. I was in school at the time, but my teachers did not talk about the incident.
I'm firmly against most easy routes to citizenship (amnesty, children of illegal aliens, etc), but anyone willing to risk shark infested waters, being picked up by a Cessna on a deserted road flying just above the waves to avoid radar, or the Cuban minefields around Gitmo deserves a new life, at least permanent residency if not a path to citizenship.
Kharn