INTER-OFFICE COMMUNICATION FLORIDA INDUSTRIAL COMMISSION DATE January 27, 1961 TO: Mr. A. Worley Brown, Chairman FROM: Burnis T. Coleman, General Counsel SUBJECT: Cuban Refugee Problem. Summary of above problem. You have the narrative report from Mr. Leitch in detail. (1)History: The Commission first became involved in the Cuban refugee problem because of the great number of non-English speaking Cubans who attempted to register and apply for work in the Employment Office in Miami. This resulted in a special budget request which was approved by the Budget Director for the establishment and staffing of a special office of Spanish speaking interviews to register and classify these refugees. The Cuban Refugee Center was established by Mr. Voorhees (representative of the President) and the work was transferred to this Center and our special employment office closed. The Center is Concerned with the total problem of the refugees which partakes much more of a resettlement and welfare character than just the placement of persons in jobs (2)ACTION TAKEN BY COMMISSION: After the commission closed its special office upon establishment of the Cuban Refugee Center, it continues to be primarily concerned with the registration of some of the refugees and efforts to place them in employment. In this connection, the use of the clearance facilities of the Employment Service which extend throughout the nation, has been discussed but has not yet been put into full use,mainly because of some restrictions, as follows: Federal law prohibits visitors and persons illegally in the country from working, and while there have been oral official (federdel) statements of policy to overlook these technicalities in an effort to help these refugees, there have been some complaints of efforts to place these people in areas where there is already a labor surplus. As of now the Commission is not engaging in a substantial portion of the work done in effort to handle the Cuban refugee problem. (3) PRESENT RESPONSIBILITIES AND PARTICIPATION: As stated in (2) above, the Commission has gradually withdrawn from active participation in this problem except to the extent that its Employment Service facilities are made available primarily for the possible number of refugees have been registered by the Employment Service. Because of the labor surplus in the Miami area very few refugees have been placed locally and there is little prospect for any significant number of placements.