Thread: Obama to end 'wet foot, dry foot' policy for Cubans

Obama to end 'wet foot, dry foot' policy for Cubans

Alan Gomez , USA TODAY Published 2:31 p.m. MT Jan. 12, 2017 | Updated 0 minutes ago


(Photo: Jose Goitia, AP)


The Obama administration is ending the 20-year-old "wet foot, dry foot" policy that allows most Cuban migrants who reach U.S. soil to become legal permanent residents after one year.

The decision was confirmed by a congressional staffer who was briefed by the administration but was not authorized to publicly discuss the plan.

In exchange, Cuba has agreed to start accepting Cubans who have been issued a deportation order in the U.S., something they have refused to do for decades.

The decision comes as President Obama tries to cement his historic opening with the communist island and one week before President-elect Donald Trump takes office. Obama ended more than five decades of isolation with its Cold War foe in December 2014, when he reestablished diplomatic relations and even visited the island in 2016. Trump has said he would renegotiate the deal with Cuba, and ending the "wet foot, dry foot" policy could affect Trump's thinking.

http://www.azcentral.com/story/news/...bans/96505172/

Nearly 30,000 Cubans Convicted of US Crimes May Face Deportation

The Miami Herald reports that 28,400 Cuban nationals have served their prison terms and face automatic deportations.

Published at 9:12 AM EDT on Mar 14, 2016 | Updated at 9:31 AM EDT on Mar 14, 2016
As Washington normalizes relations with Havana, nearly 30,000 Cuban nationals convicted of crimes in the U.S. may face deportation.

The Miami Herald reports that 28,400 Cuban nationals have served their prison terms and face automatic deportations. Some 18,000 live in Florida. For decades, they've been released under supervision by immigration authorities because the U.S. had no diplomatic relations with Cuba.
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Authorities say there's no imminent change planned for immigration policy toward Cuba. Republican Miami Congressman Carlos Curbelo says dangerous criminals should be deported at the earliest date possible, while those convicted of minor offenses should be given the opportunity to stay.

Miami defense attorney Jose "Pepe" Herrera says many Cuban inmates didn't anticipate any U.S. change toward Cuba when they signed waivers agreeing to deportations to avoid immigration detention proceedings.

Source: Nearly 30,000 Cubans Convicted of US Crimes May Face Deportation | NBC 6 South Florida

http://www.nbcmiami.com/news/local/N...#ixzz4VaTMZ5Tb

More info @

28,400 Cuban felons facing deportation

Wow!

Originally Posted by Jean

Wow!

He did that just so Trump couldn't get credit for solving the problem next week.

A token & a pay back for treating him like a piece of garbage while visiting cuba. Why doesn't he remove the act that forces us to take in all the tens of thousands of central americans that he issued from taxpayers' money $1700 a mth EACH, transportation to where ever they want to go and a smart phone. Rescind the act that forces us to take in central americans if the jerk really wants to do something viable.

Obama ending special immigration status for migrants fleeing Cuba


By Karen DeYoung January 12 at 8:01 PM

The Obama administration, in one of its last foreign policy initiatives, on Thursday ended the special status accorded Cuban migrants who, upon reaching this country, were automatically allowed to stay.

Cubans are still covered by the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which grants them the right to immediate admission and permanent residence status after one year here. But that temporary “parole” status while awaiting a green card, a Cold War policy that allowed the admittance of hundreds of thousands of Cubans, will no longer be granted.

Effective immediately, President Obama said in a statement, “Cuban nationals who attempt to enter the United States illegally and do not qualify for humanitarian relief will be subject to removal . . . treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries.”


The change applies to Cubans attempting to enter the United States by land from Mexico or Canada, as well as those arriving by sea.

It ends the “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy, adopted by the Bill Clinton administration in 1996 to stem the tide of seaborne migrants crossing the Florida Straits. That policy differentiated between those reaching U.S. soil — who were allowed to stay — and those intercepted at sea by the Coast Guard, who were returned to Cuba.

Now, said Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson, whose department is in charge of U.S. borders, Cuban migrants will be treated the same as “a Guatemalan migrant or a migrant from El Salvador,” the vast majority of whom are turned away.

Cubans, he said, “will be subject to deportation consistent with our laws and immigration priorities.”

A statement issued by the Cuban government called the agreement “an important step in the advance of bilateral relations” that will guarantee “regular, safe and orderly migration.” Cuba has long complained about the special status for migrants, particularly the “wet-foot, dry foot” policy, which it said encouraged what in many cases have been unsafe departures by unseaworthy vessels, homemade rafts and inner tubes.

As part of the accord announced in both capitals, Cuba agreed to allow any migrant who has been out of the country for up to four years to return. Previously, anyone who had been gone for more than two years was legally said to have “emigrated.”

The White House described the new policy as a logical extension of the normalization of relations with Cuba that began in December 2014, when Obama and Cuban President Raúl Castro announced they would end more than a half century of estrangement. Since then, U.S.-Cuba diplomatic relations have been reestablished, and Obama has eased long-standing restrictions on commerce and trade, as well as travel by U.S. citizens to the island.

The change comes as President-elect Donald Trump has indicated his unhappiness with increased ties with Cuba and has threatened to “terminate” the normalization. “If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal,” Trump tweeted in late November, after the death of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, the current president’s brother.

If he chose to do so after taking office, Trump could order the Department of Homeland Security to reinstitute the previous special treatment of Cubans arriving here.

Lawmakers who have long been opposed to the new relationship with Cuba also expressed displeasure at the new policy. “Today’s announcement will only serve to tighten the noose the Castro regime continues to have around the neck of its own people,” Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) said in a statement.

“Congress was not consulted prior to this abrupt policy announcement with just nine days left in the administration,” Menendez said. “The Obama administration seeks to pursue engagement with the Castro regime at the cost of ignoring the present state of torture and oppression, and its systematic curtailment of freedom.”

The Cuban government continues to arrest dissidents and restrict civil liberties, including political and press freedoms. At the same time, however, it has slowly eased the tight control of its communist system on the private economy and other sectors.

Others, however, applauded the change. Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.), who has long advocated rapprochement with Cuba, said in a statement that “this is a welcome step in reforming an illogical and discriminatory policy that contrasted starkly with the treatment of deserving refugees from other countries. Refugees from all countries should be treated the same way, and now they will be. That’s the American way.”

Business groups also expressed pleasure. Engage Cuba, a coalition of private U.S. companies and organizations working to end the trade embargo against Cuba that is still in place, called it “a logical, responsible, and important step towards further normalizing relations with Cuba.”

Benjamin Rhodes, Obama’s deputy national security adviser, said that the policy change was part of the normalization process and the liberalization of travel from Cuba, and that it also stemmed from the growing number of Cubans who, anticipating a possible change, have tried to travel here illegally since the end of 2014.

The total number of Cuban parolees in the United States — those reaching here without visas by land or sea — was 4,890 in 2013, according to Customs and Border Protection. In 2016, the number was 53,416.

According to the Coast Guard, 1,885 people traveling by sea have either arrived here or been intercepted — and sent back — in fiscal 2017, which began Oct. 1.

Thousands of others have crossed from Mexico, where thousands more are believed to be en route.

The new agreement also ends the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program, adopted under the George W. Bush administration, which targeted Cuba’s policy of sending medical professionals abroad for humanitarian aid by encouraging them to defect. The program granted U.S. embassies abroad to accept them for U.S. migration.

Cubans can still avail themselves of the Cuban Adjustment Act if they can successfully enter the country by applying for political asylum. Asylum adjudications normally take several years, which would give them time, under the act, to apply for a green card.

In announcing the new policies, the White House encouraged Congress to repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act.

Obama ending special immigration status for migrants fleeing Cuba ...

I totally 100% support this decision. Thank you Obama. There's not a lot that you've done that I agree with, but yes there is some, and this is one of them. Thank you very very much. Cuba down, South of the Border and China to go!!

Marco Rubio Slams Obama on Ending Cuban Immigration Policy: 'Absurd'


Sen. Marco Rubio (AP)
By Todd Beamon | Thursday, 12 Jan 2017 10:49 PM


Sen. Marco Rubio Thursday ripped the Obama's administration's decision tying the elimination of the "wet foot, dry foot" policy of Cuban immigration with normalizing diplomatic relations with the Castro regime as "absurd."

"While I have acknowledged the need to reform the Cuban Adjustment Act for some time now, the Obama administration’s characterization of this change as part of the ongoing normalization with the Castro regime is absurd," the Florida Republican said in a statement. "It is, in fact, President [Barack] Obama's failed Cuba policy, combined with the Castro regime’s increased repression, has led to a rise in Cuban migration since 2014."

The White House announced the immediate repeal of the law, which granted automatic residency to virtually every Cuban who arrived in the United States — whether or not they had visas — that was a longstanding exception to U.S. immigration policy.

The policy, formerly known as the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1996, allowed any Cuban who reached U.S. soil to stay but returned any picked up at sea.

Cuban officials had sought the change for years — and the change had been in the works for months.

The repeal also includes an agreement from Havana to allow those turned away from the United States to return.

In addition, the Department of Homeland Security also ended a parole program that allowed Cuban medical professionals to enter the country.

The program was unpopular with Cuban officials because it prompted doctors to leave, sapping the country's pool of trained healthcare workers.

"The Cuban Adjustment Act has provided countless Cubans the opportunity to escape the Castro tyranny," Rubio said.

"However, in recent years it has also led to growing abuses.

"While some changes were needed, we must work to ensure that Cubans who arrive here to escape political persecution are not summarily returned to the regime, and that they are given a fair opportunity to apply for and receive political asylum."

Regarding the end of the program for medical professionals, Rubio said that he was "concerned" by the White House's decision.

"For decades, the Castro regime has forced thousands of doctors to go abroad as a tool of its foreign policy," he said.

"This is political repression — and I am optimistic that the incoming Trump administration will reverse this part of the executive order and allow these doctors to seek asylum at U.S. embassies or consulates in other countries."

http://www.newsmax.com/Politics/marc.../12/id/768330/

I think this is the year that Marco Rubio needs to realize that he's an American, not Cuban. This is why there's a natural born citizen clause in the US Constitution in order to be President. Born in the USA to 2 US citizens.