Considering when Castro took over Cuba and his opposition fled to America, and that the adults would be very old if not dead by now, and the children would be in their 50s and beyond with many having few if any memories of life on the island, I began to wonder why there would be such strong opposition to normalizing relations with Cuba.
Presently, those who “escape” from Cuba are considered refugees, and they merely have to step onto U.S. soil to be allowed to stay. Many, knowing that if they are stopped coming directly by boat and could be sent back, head to Mexico and cross the border there.
Of the 13,014 illegal Cubans immigrants who were allowed into the U.S. in 2007, 11,278 of them entered by way of Texas.
Not everyone who crosses the border illegally from Mexico is Mexican, and the Cuban ones who can prove that they are Cuban are allowed to stay.
Refugees can get Food Stamps, Supplemental Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, and State Children’s Health Insurance Programs.
Specifically, Cuban “Refugees” can get preferential treatment from the U.S. government, and it does not matter if the migrant enters illegally or legally.
As a result of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, Cuban-U.S. migrant agreements of 1994 and 1995, and modifications added in 1996, any Cuban who has been in the U.S. for a year and a day, regardless of how they got here, becomes a Legal Permanent Resident.
Every attempt to end this has been successfully prevented by the use of political power by U.S. Cubans, and they have been able to add further preferences for Cuban immigrants, whether legal or illegal.
Interestingly, while people South of the Border may have to pay high prices for a coyote the get them across the border with no guarantee they will make it alive once the money changes hands, Cubans in the U.S. are able to pay thousands of dollars to have traffickers bring Cubans here illegally, give them jobs, and help them get U.S. government benefits.
Cubans are not presently subjected to the Immigration and Nationality Act, and as refugees are allowed temporary entrance into the U.S. where they can apply for permanent residency and citizenship under an expedited process designed just for them.
As long as Cuban/ U.S.A. relations remain Cold War relations there are benefits that will be lost with normalization.
In 2011, the U.S. encouraged defections of doctors from Cuba who did not have documents from Cuba allowing them to travel to the U.S.
By contrast in that same year, the U.S. announced it would be expelling Haitians who were here illegally, but had been given a temporary reprieve because of the earthquake in that nation.
According to Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security in 2010,
“It is important to note that TPS (Temporary Protected Status) will apply only to those [Haitian] individuals who were in the United States as of January 12, 2010. Those who attempt to travel to the United States after January 12, 2010 will not be eligible for TPS and will be repatriated.”
While Congress debates the Dream Act, Cuban children can enter the country every day with their equally illegal parents, and their parents get a work permit, a social security card, public assistance for food and accommodations, medicare if eligible, or medicaid.
Cubans are not put in jail until their case is tried, but are immediately paroled, and after a year, can apply for permanent residency ( green card) and citizenship after 5 years, and children can go to school without fear of arrest, and college age children can enter the universities or armed forces without the requirement of having to spend two years in either.
And once they are fast tracked to citizenry they can register to vote, which gives them political power that can be beneficial to those who fight to keep the laws unchanged.
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In 1994-95, Clinton and Castro, made a deal that would allow 20,000 Cubans a year to emigrate to the U.S., but those picked up at sea would be returned to Cuba. According to U.S practice, those getting to land anywhere in the U.S cannot be deported, but this is seen by Cuba as a violation of that agreement.
To enter the U.S., a person must present themselves at a port-of-entry, that is, a border crossing, airport, or seaport where there are immigration and customs agents. Not so with Cubans. They just have to get here.
If any illegals immigrants are captured anywhere trying to enter the U.S. they can be immediately deported. But Cubans are exempt from expedited removal by law. Where Haitians and Cubans have been captured together, Haitians have been deported while the Cubans have been paroled into the U.S.
Except for Cubans, illegal aliens must be held in jail until deported.
Unlike with others, captured Cubans arriving illegally in the U.S. do not have to return to their country of origin, apply for admission, and then wait their turn, nor do they have to return to their country of origin to apply for permanent residency.
Although it is not so with others, a Cuban illegal is not penalized for being a public charge when applying for permanent residency.
They get these benefits because they are Cold War refugees who are theoretically fleeing for safety in time of political upheaval, or war, but, unlike other fleeing refugees who would be reluctant to go back to visit the country that persecuted them during existing political upheaval or war, Cubans who come here, illegally or not, can and do return to Cuba for visits and other reasons once they get permanent residency or citizenship here.
Some Cubans come to the states now, not to get away from persecution, but for economic reasons.
Cubans who are born outside Cuba of Cuban parents, and have never been to the island, have gone to a Cuban consulate in their home country and gotten a birth certificate as a dual citizen of Cuba, and then come to the U.S. and claim political asylum under the 1966 act, and get it.
Whereas those from other counties who migrate here can only bring their immediate family with them, father, mother, and children, Cubans can bring siblings and married children with kids. There is no limit on the number of these family members that can be brought here.
Again comparing them to Haitians who have to wait 7 to 10 years to bring in family members, for Cubans the wait is only about 3 years.
As long as relations with Cuba are not normalized, Cubans will retain refugee status and get preferential treatment. They would lose their advantage with normalization.
And that is why many Cubans who are benefiting do not like what President Obama has done.
Among the number of people deported from the United States in recent years, none have been Cubans who arrived here illegally.
While people like Trump and his supporters, and the likes of Marco Rubio and Raphael Cruz harp on how many benefits are given and American jobs lost to undocumented aliens, and they throw around the 11 million number without specifics, they are not including the Cuban refugees among whom are those who have been given deportation orders for criminal acts, but cannot be deported.
Cuban interest groups and politicians are obviously against President Obama’s opening relations with Cuba because it will most likely decrease the number of Cubans, legal or illegal coming to the United States, and the benefits they get when they arrive.
In the railing against normalized relations, people like Cruz, who is very selective when it comes to human rights, will be attempting to hide his real agenda by emphasizing the treatment of dissidents.
But what he does not want people to see is that his people will continue with their special treatment provided things do not change.