Reply #3: Well, it was an accident, and it was a boat.

[lapfog_1]

In November 1999, Elián, his mother, and twelve others left Cuba on a small aluminum boat with a faulty engine; Elián's mother and ten others died in the crossing. The boat was operated by his mother's boyfriend, who resided in Miami and smuggled Cubans into the U.S. for money. Elián and the other two survivors completed the journey across the Florida Straits on an inner tube. Elián was rescued at sea by two fishermen who then gave him to the U.S. Coast Guard.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eli%C3%A1n_Gonz%C3%A1lez

Of course, some might think it's criminal to put 14 people into a small aluminum "boat" and cross the open ocean in it.