Cubans are Telling Us They’re Not Refugees, So Why are We Treating them Like they Are?

[rangerrebew]

    Cubans are Telling Us They’re Not Refugees, So Why are We Treating them Like they Are?

    May 20, 2016 By Ira Mehlman



    Cuban nationals are streaming across our border with Mexico in record numbers. Our policy toward Cuban citizens who set foot on U.S. soil is to treat them as presumptive refugees. They are allowed to enter and can gain permanent residency after just one year.

    After decades of intermittent flows of Cuban migrants making the dangerous voyage across the Straits of Florida, most are now choosing to fly to Central America and make their way north by land or air. In El Paso, Texas, shelters, churches and local officials are gearing up to receive as many as 350 new Cuban arrivals each day. These Cuban migrants transit through Panama before landing in Ciudad Juarez, just across the border from El Paso.

    The spike in Cuban migration has nothing to do with political conditions in Cuba, or even significant economic changes in that country. Rather, the motivating factor is fear that normalization of relations between the U.S. and Cuba might result in repeal of the Cuban Adjustment Act (CAA), under which Cuban migrants get preferential treatment from our immigration system.

    “Now that diplomatic relations have improved, individuals are scared that they may cast off the [CAA] and in the event that they do, they’ll get stuck in a really oppressive nation,” says Melissa Lopez, a spokeswoman for a group that provides assistance to the migrants. That assessment is echoed by Marta Molina, a recent arrival from Cuba. “We want to make sure we are safe in the U.S. before it would be impossible or more difficult to get here.”

    So, if the advocates for the migrants are telling us that they’re not refugees, and the Cuban migrants themselves are telling us that they’re not refugees, why do we continue to treat them like they are? Despite concern by Cubans who are openly exploiting the CAA that it might be repealed, there does not appear to be any meaningful effort to terminate the 50-year-old law.

    In the meantime, more and more Cubans are taking us up on the open invitation to crash our borders because few people in Washington have the political courage to repeal a failed and outdated Cold War policy.

    http://immigrationreform.com/2016/05...like-they-are/

[TomSea]

Point taken is valid; in the end analysis though, I don't think the Cubans coming over are that big of an amount especially compared to others trying to cross our borders.

But if the reason they come is for economic reasons and not political, they should be turned back, it goes without saying.

[Luis Gonzalez]

One of, if not the primary difference between Cuban immigrants and immigrants from nearly every other country in the world, except perhaps North Korea, is that if you live anywhere but Cuba (and North Korea) you're free to choose to LEGALLY migrate to the U.S. at any time, and for any reason. Cubans however, have no migratory mechanism per se that is allowed by the government. In fact (this has been the case for decades) Cubans of "military service age" are not allowed to travel out of the country for any reason other than as directed by the government.

Having said all that, and as the recent massive arrests of political dissidents prior to Obama's visit to the island proves, freedom is still brutally denied to Cubans who oppose the Castro-led government, so while many Cubans seek to migrate to the US by any means necessary in order to better themselves and economically, it is the lack of freedom to do that in the island which makes them arrive at their decision to leave.

Here's a couple of graphics to help you decide what's happening in Cuba:

There are The Ladies in White. They are mothers, wives and sisters of Cuban political prisoners (the pictures on their t-shirts) who stage marches demanding their release. They march every month:



This is what happens once Cuban "law enforcement" finds the location of the protest:



If the government denies you the freedom to grow financially to secure your family's future and you want to go where you can do that, but the same government that denies you the freedom to do that in your country denies you the right to move elsewhere, then your leaving that country by any means necessary may be financial in nature, but the underlying reason is lack of freedom and oppression.

[WAC]

Most people who come here, refugee status and otherwise, who are in the low income bracket will always come here for the handouts.

It doesn't matter what nationality as long as the gravy train runs and they will vote demorat to make sure that it does.