Thread: Cuellar: Time to End Cuban Immigration Policy Provision

by Julián Aguilar Dec. 4, 2015

For the second straight year, the Texas-Mexico border has been the No. 1 destination for Cubans hoping to take advantage of a U.S. immigration policy that allows them to establish legal residency here.

And with the United States moving closer to opening up trade with the island nation, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, says it’s time to change the immigration provision — which he said is part of a Cold War leftover enacted when the country was trying to prevent the spread of communism.

In 2015, about 28,400 Cubans entered Texas through the Laredo field office of Customs and Border Protection, which extends from Del Rio to Brownsville. That figure surpasses the combined totals for the other 19 CBP field offices, which include Miami, Houston, New York and New Orleans. The figure also represents an 82 percent jump from 2014, when 15,600 Cubans entered through the Laredo field office.

The surge comes after last year’s move by the Obama administration to re-establish ties with Cuba. Many Cubans fear they will lose a special designation that allows them to apply for legal residency status, or a “green card,” after living in the country for a year. The measure is part of an agreement reached during the Clinton Administration, known as the “wet foot/dry foot” policy.

Cuellar said the policy should instead be changed as part of a more encompassing immigration-reform package.

“Given the President’s change in policy with Cuba and the opening of diplomatic ties, I think it is appropriate to take a second look at our current immigration policies toward the Caribbean nation [to] bring them in line with our other immigration policies,” he told The Texas Tribune in an email.

“The bases of current policies regarding Cuban immigration were enacted during the Cold War at a time when we were struggling against Communism and had no diplomatic ties with the island nation. Given the current climate and normalizing of relations I believe Cubans should be treated the same as everyone else,” Cuellar said.

The surge comes at a time when Gov. Greg Abbott is investigating opportunities for Texas businesses in Cuba. Abbott recently traveled to the country to begin a dialogue with Cuban officials and discuss what Texans can do in that country if the U.S. lifts its decades-old trade embargo with the island nation.

Abbott hasn’t called on the government to completely lift the embargo, saying that was a matter for the federal government. And he hasn’t commented on the surge of Cubans to Texas.

For most of the Cubans who have already reached Laredo, however, escaping the communist government could not have come sooner, said Alejandro Ruiz, a Cuban immigrant who migrated in the 1990s. Ruiz runs Cubanos de Libertad in Laredo, a nonprofit he established to help the migrants obtain Social Security cards and work permits.

He said critics of current policy who say all immigrants should be treated the same way don’t understand the situation in Cuba.

“In Mexico or Central America, people who work hard can get ahead," he said.

Ruiz doesn’t think the thawing of relations will get any better regardless of what happens between the American and Cuban governments. He said that re-establishing ties could also prop up the dictatorship.

“I don’t think they’re going to get better for the people. The [government officials] are the ones who will benefit,” he said. “But the people won’t because they don’t give anything to the people.”

http://www.texastribune.org/2015/12/...ration-policy/

There is no reason at all for any Cubans to come to the United States as refugees or asylum-seekers or anything else other than tourists and business visitors. They just need to stay home and fix their country, the same as all people of all nations.

Our whole immigration system is so messed up primarily because it's infected with fraud, self-interest, personal interest, money, lawyers and gravy trains. America is full to the brim, our pot is boiling over, we're suffocating under the weight and burden of decades of massive immigration. It all needs to stop. Right here. Right now.

That's why we need an immediate 10 to 20 Year Moratorium on All Immigration. But based on the US Senate vote of 89 to 10 against Rand Paul's Amendment to stop Muslim Refugees, when 43 or so Republicans voted with the Democrats to kill that Amendment, then we know that Republicans need to find better Senators to run for the Senate, ones who will stand up for Americans instead of immigrants.

See the line? Pick a side.

And it looks like 43 Republican US Senators picked the wrong side.

But to Rand Paul I would ask, why did you limit the stop to refugees only from Muslim Jihadist countries? You should have introduced an Amendment to stop All Immigration From Everywhere. Maybe some Senators believed your Amendment violated the 14th Amendment based on their religion. That is possible. It should have applied to all immigrants, all refugees, all asylum-seekers, all everyone from everywhere. IMO.