Thread: Cubans Invading America

Cubans Invading America


This was shot from a United States Coast Guard helicopter on patrol for Cuban rafters off the coast of Cuba and shows
Cuban rafters, approximately 15 - 20 miles off the coast of Cuba.. Sun-Sentinel Staff Photo/Jackie Bell

by Team DML/ March 24, 2016

The Coast Guard is telling one story about how Cubans are being handled by America — and the Border Patrol tells a much different story.
No doubt, the story coming from the BP is the one that hits us most.

The Coast Guard has reported that in just one week their crews intercepted seven vessels in the Florida Straits carrying Cuban illegals. All 58 people
were repatriated to Cuba Wednesday. In January alone, 396 Cuban migrants were repatriated.

Since October 1, the Coast Guard estimates that 2,562 Cubans have attempted to illegally migrate to the U.S. by sea. Coast Guard officials
have noted an increase in rafters since the U.S. announced a normalization of diplomatic relations with Cuba in December 2014. (Miami Herald)

However, the report from the U.S. Border Patrol tells a different story:

where they are quickly processed, given money and allowed to proceed into the USA.

In summary, since October, 2,562 illegals came via sea, most are intercepted and returned to Cuba – while 18,500 illegals who came
by land are permitted to stay, regardless of criminal history.

The message must be getting back home as to which route is the most successful – and the most profitable.

http://dennismichaellynch.com/highlight-one/cubans-coming-america-by-land-and-sea/

Officials see 'influx' of Cuban immigrants as lawmakers eye immigration change

By Joseph WeberPublished March 30, 2016 FoxNews.com

President Obama’s push to improve relations with Cuba has coincided with an influx of Cuban immigrants into the U.S., statistics show, amid revived talk on Capitol Hill about ending a decades-old law allowing them easy entry to the country.

“We are seeing an influx of Cubans at the Texas-Mexico border who are immediately admitted to this country and have an extremely fast pathway to citizenship,” Texas GOP Rep. Blake Farenthold said in a statement.

Lawmakers suspect the immigrants are flocking to the border out of fear the current immigration policy will be changed, though they can't know for sure.

But the numbers are clear. U.S. Customs and Border Protection documents obtained by FoxNews.com indeed show a spike in Cuban immigrants at U.S. points of entry since Obama announced his diplomatic plan in December 2014.

The number of Cuban immigrants has increased every quarter except for one since the announcement -- from 5,770 in the three months prior, to as many as 14,114 in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, roughly 26 months later.

A total of 44,159 arrived at the more than 325 U.S. entry points in fiscal 2015, compared with nearly 26,280 in fiscal 2014.

And the number in just the first five months of fiscal 2016 is 27,644, which at that pace would bring the total for the year to over 66,000.

Farenthold, who is working with other Republicans to lift the decades-old law giving Cuban immigrants more favorable treatment, said the current policy is outdated and needs to change.

“With President Obama restoring diplomatic relations with Cuba, the immigration preferential treatment given to Cubans … no longer makes sense,” he said.

Under the the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, Cuban nationals can be allowed -- or “paroled” -- into the United States. After one year in the country, they can apply for a green card, or permanent legal residence.

However, they must express fear of returning to Cuba and can enter only if arriving by land and have no criminal record.

The federal government stopped applying that treatment to Cubans arriving by sea after massive flotilla migrations in the 1980 in which many who reached U.S. shores had a history of crime or mental illness.

There is also no cap on the number of Cuban nationals allowed into the country.

Farenthold and fellow Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, last week proposed legislation that would end such preferential treatment under the law.

“It is the sense of Congress that Cuban nationals should be treated under the same immigration rules as nationals of other countries,” their Correcting Unfair Benefits for Aliens, or CUBA, Act, in part reads.

Texas has 29 ports of entry, the most in the United States, which has contributed to the state having the biggest surge -- especially Cuellar’s home district in Laredo, about 100 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border.

Customs and Border Protection’s Laredo field office -- with jurisdiction over six ports of entry including the Del Rio/ International Bridge -- handled a total of roughly 44,000 cases of Cuban nationals in fiscal 2014 and 2015, about three times as many as Miami, in second place.

Cuellar calls the 50-year-old immigration law a “relic of a bygone era.”

And he urged Americans after Obama’s historic visit to Cuba earlier this month to remember that thousands of people from Central America and elsewhere also are fleeing from despair, including drug violence, but face a disadvantage when compared with Cubans.

Cuellar and Farenthold’s efforts appear to have the support of Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn, who has also called for a policy change.

Still, the administration has no plans to change the immigration policy “or seek legislative change,” according to Customs and Border Protection.

“We continue to promote safe, legal and orderly migration from Cuba,” the agency said in a statement.

Cubans began fleeing their country in the 1960s to escape the Castros' oppressive, communist regime. The recent exodus is largely driven by poverty and lack of economic opportunity.

Lawmakers and other officials have tried before to repeal the 1966 law, in no small part because it also offers Cuban immigrants some federal welfare benefits.

The advantages for Cubans, compared to other Latin Americans, came to light again in 2014 when thousands of families from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras arrived at the southern U.S. border to escape drug-trade violence and other problems.

“We’ve been calling for a repeal of the law for years,” Ira Mehlman, a spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said this week.

“It has never achieved its objective. All it has done is drain the dissidents from Cuba where they might have effected change. ... It’s time for Cuba to have the same immigration policy as the rest of the world.”

Officials see 'influx' of Cuban immigrants as lawmakers eye immigration change | Fox News

Castro Calls For Immigration Reform, Criticizes Trump

By NATHANIEL J. HIATT, CRIMSON STAFF WRITER 9 hours ago

United States Congressman Joaquín Castro discussed immigration, the current presidential election, and the status of Latinos in the U.S. at a talk moderated by CNN Political Analyst and Kennedy School professor David Gergen at the John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum on Thursday.

Castro is a member of the Democratic Party who represents the 20th congressional district of Texas, which largely encompasses the San Antonio area. His twin brother, Julián Castro, currently serves as President Barack H. Obama’s Secretary of Housing and Urban Development and has been rumored to be a contender for the Democrats' 2016 Vice Presidential nomination. Both brothers are active supporters of Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

Joaquín Castro, advocating Democratic policy, emphasized the need for immigration reform, and criticized the Republican presidential candidates for their handling of the issue throughout the current campaign cycle.

“Donald Trump and the Republicans have turned the conversation about immigration into a nasty one, and one that makes it hard for the country to come together,” he said in an interview before his talk.

“I feel like [Trump] kicked off his campaign with slander. He slandered a whole population of people. He slandered immigrants, he slandered Latinos, but not just Latinos and immigrants,” Castro said. “He slandered the history of the United States and the country, and the way we were built.”

Castro also spoke about the need to improve education policies in the U.S. and increase college accessibility. Specifically, he cited the need to increase the amount of college counseling available to students, and make sure that all options for higher education are open to them.

“There are a lot of important things that happen outside the classroom but still inside the school,” he said. “We have to do a good job of broadening people’s horizons, getting them to apply to all of these wonderful places.”

Castro shared that the advice he gives to college counselors is to “always believe that the people that you’re advising and mentoring can achieve more things than you did,” adding that “people will artificially limit their horizons.”

Daniel S. Menz ’19 said that, while he thought the talk was rehearsed at points, Castro “was very sincere.”

The Castro brothers “have been such role models in their community, growing up in the situation that they did,” Menz said. “The talk really illustrated why we’re so privileged to be here.”

Anastacia M. Valdespino ’17 said she liked the breadth of issues Castro explored, some of which, “we don’t get to talk about or have the space to talk about.”

The large audience at the talk was “a testament to the rarity of this,” she added. “Not only that it is rare to have such a successful Latino in Congress, but to also have him come here.”

Castro’s talk opened the Harvard Kennedy School’s America Adelante Conference, taking place this weekend, which aims to bring together Latino students and political leaders and explore the implications of the growing Latino population in the U.S.

Castro Calls For Immigration Reform, Criticizes Trump | News | The Harvard Crimson

—Staff writer Nathaniel J. Hiatt can be reached at nathaniel.hiatt@thecrimson.com.