Thread: Cubans in U.S. less fearful on immigration

Economic opportunity.

Also, in Cuba, they hear about 'La Ayudar',...The Help. This was covered in detail by WTVJ Channel 6 in a special, done in Cuba by a Cuban-American journalist years ago. I've posted about this experience....This is from my story....

We
ENJOYED learning about other countries from new friends, and not just from
Europe. We have friends from the mid-east, Asia, Africa, Central and
South America. Our friends are literally from around the world. Yet,
now, I find myself becoming more nationalistic. Enough. We cannot take
care of the world. We're being regarded as fools. I heard one recent
Cuban smuggelee (I don't consider them legal), who was working at my
hospital, say in Spanish, translated by one of my Cuban friends, that
"Americans work too hard, and that he'd go home (Cuba) except that
Americans are so easy to steal from, because we want to believe good about
everyone." My Cuban friends, have told me that they live in fear of the
phone ringing...that it's a distant relative from Cuba, who wants to be
sponsored. That most folk coming from Cuba, now, are criminals. That
they have had to be in Cuba to survive, but they continue that behavior
here. They have been raised as Communists, so believe that they should be
taken care of, and that every friend of theirs, who has taken in such a
family member, has either been robbed by them, or they have had to pay for
legal fees because the immigrant gets into trouble with the law. On the
island, the people are told about "La Ayudar". The Help. They are told
they can get anything they want by calling 911. I have personally seen
this in action, and told about it by new immigrants. I hung up the phone
after a discharged patient called 911 from the ER to get a "ride home".
She got very angry at me when I told her that 911 was for life-threatening
emergencies only. That in the USA, people are responsible for taking care
of themselves. She started shouting "La Ayudar, La Ayudar" at me. When I
enquired of her frustrated family member, I was told the above.

Remember, all of this was told to me by my Cuban-American friends (they call themselves 'American')

Originally Posted by swatchick

Cubans do not want those illegals here and make it known in Miami. The other thing about Cubans is that they think that they are above other Hispanics as they look to them as low lifes.
In the article you provided, it claims more Cubans have degrees than other Hispanics. That is due to Clinton's wet foot dry foot policy where if they touch land in the United States they can stay and obtain residency. Other Hispanics cannot get degrees if they are illegal as they are considered international students and have to pay a small fortune to go to school. Also there are numerous scholarships for students of Cuban background that are unavailible to other Hispanic groups.

It depends.

In some states illegal aliens don't necessarily have to pay higher college tuition.

In New York it's de facto, if not de jure, policy, but I'm not sure about other states.

I suppose they might have scholarships that are specific to Cuban Americans-like other ethnic groups-but I don't think that's anything unusual.

The "Wet Foot, Dry Foot" policy has been a disaster though, and has only led to needless deaths and headaches for the U.S. Coast Guard.

I don't think that has anything to do with the number of Cuban college graduates though.

Most of the initial refugees that came to the United States were well-educated.

Even though they had all of their property confiscated by the Castro regime it didn't matter, because they took with them the intellectual capital that made them successful in their homeland.

Even though they had all of their property confiscated by the Castro regime it didn't matter, because they took with them the intellectual capital that made them successful in their homeland.

Exactly.

For the most part the theory that the best and brightest have already fled El Hefe's tropical gulag is correct.

I'm not implying that every one left there is a criminal, or a Communist, or even a socialist, but the fact remains that they-or their families-did not have the wherewithal to find a means of escaping Cuba, which means that they are probably poorer, less educated, and/or less motivated to leave.

Giving them exit visas-when and if that detestable regime is consigned to the ashheap of history-would be a monumentally bad idea, IMHO.

Shapka, are you of Ukrainian background? Shapka means hat in Ukrainian.
I do not believe all the smart ones left Cuba but at the same time many not so bright ones came over here. Their relatives are coughing up anywhere from $5,000 and up to people in go fast boats to bring their relatives over. They used to be found dropped off in the keys as no raft was found with them. The Coast Guard has caught on and they have been apprehended before reaching land. They are now going further north to aviod the Coast Guard. I don't know if you seen the chase the Coast Guard had with one of the go fast boats that made the news. One passenger died and others were injured as they would not listen to the Coast Guards orders to stop and ended up with their engines shot up. What makes me sick is that they never touched land except for the injured ones and they got there due to relatives paying smugglers yet they were allowed to stay! The family denied that they had paid any smugglers and the passengers made a deal to testify against the smugglers in order to stay. From what I understand is that the families paid one person the money and that person paid the smugglers to cover their asses. Then they tried to say the boat was off the shore of Cuba and saw these people on a raft and decided to save them and bring them to the United States. Curiouspat is correct they have us all as a bunch of MOD EDIT!

Yes, I know.

Actually, it's a reference to that satirical novel written by Jonathan Safran Foer, believe it or not.

Thanks for the information.

I'm actually aware that smuggling relatives-or friends, or simply warm bodies-into the United States is big business, and that not all of the Cuban exiles who are living here have the best interests of this country at heart when they try to get their blood relations into the United States.

I don't know if you've ever read "Before Night Falls" by Reinaldo Arenas, but it's one of the most moving memoirs I've ever had the privilege of reading in my lifetime.

There's an interesting section of that book where he describes the Mariel Boatlift-which allowed him to sneak into the U.S. while he was still technically on Castro's s-list-and how it was utilized by Fidel Castro in order to avert what would have otherwise been an extremely bloody revolution and/or internal coup.

The exiles were divided into three groups, each one representing a class of someones whom Castro wanted inserted into this country.

1. Criminals, derelicts, and other undesirables who were a tax on the threadbare Communist system.

2. Spies, DGI agents bent on espionage and infiltration, etc...

3. Political dissidents and others who formed the core of internal resistence to the Castro regime.

Castro has been playing American presidents like a fiddle ever since peanuthead Jimmah Carter was in office.

AGREED!

As I have posted elsewhere, I took care of a man who was shot during a robbery in a neighborhood "Cheers" type establishment. It was within 4 hrs of the release of the first Mariels into the community. The Mariel managed to find a gun, go into this neighborhood bar, with all its regulars. He grabbed an older woman's purse (she did NOT struggle to hold on to it/police) then shot and killed her. My pt kept saying over and over, that " I got shot with the bullet that killed my friend." I can still hear his anguish.

My Cuban friends, one a doc., said "you don't know what has been allowed into our country". Crime skyrocketed in Miami.

I am NOT saying that all Mariels were criminals. Of course not. But things changed in Miami after that, and not for the best.

Castro is an evil genius.

Castro has been playing American presidents like a fiddle ever since peanuthead Jimmah Carter was in office

I totally agree with Shapka's statement.

Before I moved from Miami, in July, the Supreme Court held that the Mariel criminals, could not be held in detention indefinitely, once their sentences were up. Our president said in a press conference that they would be released because, and I'll never forget this, "Castro doesn't want them." WHAT? Castro is STILL determining our policies?

My response was, take them to Guantanamo, and kick 'em out the back door. PULEEZE.

So once they were released, and the media made us aware of the date. Within 2 days, we had our first murder by one of the just released Mariels.

Outrageous.

Curiouspat you are correct. Not long after the Mariel Boatlift there were numerous murders and violent rapes. Approximately 2,000 men were arrest that had orginated from that boatlift. They have recently began being released into society. One was out for a week and committed a murder in Texas and was arrested in Miami Beach last summer. I hope others freed from prison do not follow in their footsteps.

Originally Posted by swatchick

Cubans do not want those illegals here and make it known in Miami. The other thing about Cubans is that they think that they are above other Hispanics as they look to them as low lifes.
In the article you provided, it claims more Cubans have degrees than other Hispanics. That is due to Clinton's wet foot dry foot policy where if they touch land in the United States they can stay and obtain residency. Other Hispanics cannot get degrees if they are illegal as they are considered international students and have to pay a small fortune to go to school. Also there are numerous scholarships for students of Cuban background that are unavailible to other Hispanic groups.

This is very true, and Cubans have benefits that Americans don't have. One thing I don't understand is that if I'am a refugee from another country that means that my life was in danger in that country, yet Cubans come here as political refugees running away from a dictator, and once they are here they can go back to Cuba any time they want? And they do so, there are Cubans who go to Cuba every year.

It depends.

Castro welcomes the money Cuban exiles bring back, believe it or not.

Although I'm sure there are lot of people who can't return there while his regime remains in power.