By ABBY GOODNOUGH

MIAMI, Aug. 1 — Gov. Jeb Bush this week criticized a White House decision to return 12 Cubans suspected of hijacking a boat in July.

The governor's criticism of his brother's administration, in an interview with The Miami Herald on Thursday, came at a time of mounting tensions between the
Republican Party and Cuban exile groups, who say that President Bush has fallen short on promises to ratchet up economic and political pressure on Fidel Castro, the Cuban leader.

Miami-Dade County's 600,000 Cuban-Americans played a major role in the president's victory over Al Gore in 2000, and with another election year approaching,
the exile groups are letting the White House know in increasingly bitter terms that they are unhappy.

The latest point of conflict was the administration's decision to return 12 Cubans whom the Coast Guard intercepted on a boat it discovered in international waters off the Bahamas on July 15. The Cuban government said the 12 had hijacked the vessel, tying up three men who had been guarding it.

Under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy adopted by the Clinton administration, Cubans who reach land in the United States can stay, but those who are intercepted in the water must be sent back. Cubans are the only people who benefit from such a policy; Haitians who try to enter the country by boat or raft, for example, are
automatically sent home.

But exile groups, which have long attacked that policy, say the decision to return the 12 Cubans last month was particularly egregious because three Cubans who
hijacked a boat in April were executed after the United States sent them home. Administration officials say they received assurances from the Cuban government that
the 12 would not be executed, and instead would receive prison sentences of up to 10 years.

Several Democratic presidential contenders have sided with the exile groups, including Senator Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut, who said the decision was "an
abandonment of American values" during a visit to South Florida this week that included a stop in Little Havana here.

In his remarks to The Herald, Governor Bush said: "Despite the good intentions of the administration to negotiate the safety of these folks, that is an oppressive regime and given the environment in Cuba, it's just not right" to send them back. He also hinted that the White House would modify its Cuban policy before the presidential election.

Jill Bratina, a spokeswoman for Governor Bush, reiterated his statement today. She said the governor had not discussed the decision with his brother, but had asked
high-ranking officials in the administration to review it. "The governor agrees with the president's policies on Cuba and feels that the president has been a strong
advocate for the people of Cuba," she said, but added that "unfortunately, in this instance it was not an appropriate decision."

At the White House, President Bush's press secretary told reporters, "Our policy is one of a safe, orderly and legal migration," and added, "We expect that policy to
be implemented and carried out in a consistent way."

Scott McClellan, the press secretary, added that while there were "very few" issues on which the Bush brothers disagreed, "One thing that we do agree on is that
there's a very oppressive regime and that we stand together in our dedication to helping the Cuban people realize freedom."

Joe Garcia, executive director of the Cuban American National Foundation, the most prominent Cuban exile group, said the exile community had "waited long
enough" for the Bush administration to take a harder line against the Castro government.

"This isn't just some Republican; it's someone that this community felt it went to the mat for," Mr. Garcia said of President Bush. "It isn't about the 12 that got returned, but the 11 million on the island and the promises made over three years ago to the Cuban-American community."

Mr. Garcia said that while he applauded the governor's statement, he was insulted by the suggestion that a policy change would come before the election. That, he
said, suggested that the Bush administration cared about Cuban votes, not Cubans. "That's demeaning and degrading to a community that demonstrated loyalty and
commitment to the Bush family," Mr. Garcia said.

On Thursday, Mr. Garcia's group held a news conference here to urge the government not to send back 19 Cubans intercepted on Monday in a boat near the Cuban coast. At least some of those apprehended, Mr. Garcia and other Cuban-Americans say, are dissidents who risk severe punishment if they are sent home.