Since the 1960s, when the United States wanted to tweak the nose of Fidel Castro, Cuban refugees who managed to reach land in the US got preferential treatment. Anywhere from financial support to a faster path to citizenship were afforded to Cubans. This hasn’t escaped the notice of other refugees and migrants from Latin American countries…people who are often stopped at the border and sent home or are deported later if found to be illegal immigrants. Even those who seem to be legitimate refugees.
But with the normalizing of relations between the United States and Cuba, is it really necessary to continue to afford Cubans who come to the US these special considerations? Or should there be quotas and lines and procedures for them just like every other foreign citizen interested in moving to the United States?
And actually, normalized relations have increased the level of immigration to the US as Raul Castro has dropped the requirement to have an exit visa before you can leave Cuba. So instead of raft flotillas headed for Florida we see Cubans flying to Central America and making their way to Laredo Texas and other border crossings and getting a royal welcome rather than a royal heave ho.
From the New York Times: Tension Simmers as Cubans Breeze Across U.S. Border
They are crossing the border here by the hundreds each day, approved to enter the United States in a matter of hours.
Part of a fast-rising influx of Cubans, they walk out to a Laredo street and are greeted by volunteers from Cubanos en Libertad, or Cubans in Freedom, who help them arrange travel to their American destination — often Miami — and start applying for work permits and federal benefits like food stamps and Medicaid, available by law to Cubans immediately after their arrival.
The friendly reception given the Cubans, an artifact of hostile relations with the Castro government, is a stark contrast with the treatment of Central American families fleeing violence in their countries. And it is creating tensions in this predominantly Mexican-American city, where residents saw how Central American migrants, who came in an influx in 2014, were detained by the Border Patrol and ordered to appear in immigration courts.
Already about 12,100 Cubans entered through Laredo and other Texas border stations in the last three months of 2015, according to official figures. Border officials say as many as 48,000 Cubans could cross here this year, more than all those who came in the last two years combined.
Under the Cuban Adjustment Act, a law Congress passed in 1966 in the early years of enmity with Fidel Castro, any Cuban who sets foot on American soil is given permission to enter, known as parole. Cubans are also eligible for federal welfare benefits including financial assistance for nine months under separate policies from the 1980s. After a year, they can apply for permanent residency, a gateway to citizenship.
And does it take them two years to get into the country? More like an hour…so they are properly vetted like a Syrian refugee for instance?
The federal border authorities, who have been watching the number of Cubans growing steadily, added officers and opened extra rooms in the border station, doubling their capacity to process them. Most Cubans move through in less than an hour, officials said.
At the border, Cubans are fingerprinted and pass through routine criminal and terrorism background checks. There is no special vetting for Cubans, and there are no medical examinations or vaccination requirements.
Criminal and terrorism background? Where do they get that information? I highly doubt that Cuba shares their list of suspected terrorists or lists of convicted felons with US Immigration.
But really, in 2016 is such preferential treatment still a good idea? Or necessary?
…Alan Bersin, assistant secretary of Homeland Security, said in an interview….“The Cuban Adjustment Act is still in effect and is part of the overall immigration policy and there is no intent presently to change that.”
Mr. Cuellar [ Representative Henry Cuellar, Democrat of Texas] has called for the act to be repealed, but he acknowledges there is little prospect that Congress will act this year.
Shrug!
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