For many years, there has been debate on Cuban immigration policies and whether the U.S. should tighten restrictions or be more lenient on Cuban Immigrants. This is as a result of the controversial “Wet foot/Dry foot” policy most formally known as the U.S. Cuba Immigration Accord. (link 7) In 1994 the Soviet Union who heavily subsidize Cuba, fell part. This worsened the economy in Cuba therefore poverty began to grow. (link 2) This created a 30,000-immigrant wave into South Florida. Which led to the U.S. Cuba Immigration Accord, which was passed by the Clinton Administration.
Under this Accord the U.S. agreed to only admit 20,000 annual immigrant visas to Cubans, 5,000 that are from the lottery system. Under the lottery system they are given a green card and U.S. work assistance. After a year they are eligible to apply for permanent residence, and then U.S. citizenship. However this brings a large debate at hand: Why should only Cubans be given citizenship advantages and not other immigrants? (link 7) Under The Wet Foot/Dry Foot Policy, Cuba agreed that it would patrol its Coast better and the U.S. agreed to send back any Cubans that were found at sea (“Wet Foot”). This patrolling by the U.S. coast guard although is very controversial as a result of certain past events, increased smuggling, and the influence that the Cuban community currently has in Miami.
In the past few years, there have been various incidents with immigrants; the most publicly known was the Elian Gonzalez case. When a child who was found at sea was brought to Miami and lived under the custody of his uncle for seven months, and then was sent back to Cuba. Why did the Coast Guard bring him to land in the U.S. when the policy called for him to be sent back to Cuba? In 1999 the U.S. coast guard also intercepted a group of immigrants and used pepper spray and water cannons to subdue the immigrants. This brings up the question on how the U.S. coast guard should approach retaining immigrants from touching land. In 2006 there was an incident in which 14 Cubans, including women and children were found on a piece of the 7-mile bridge. This however was considered “Wet Foot” because there was no way they could reach land. This created a large outrage in the Cuban community, because technically they were not found at sea. (link 8)
The U.S. Coast guard patrols the area by boat, cutters and aircraft patrol.(link 7 ) This increase in patrol has created a large demand for smugglers, which places many families and immigrants in danger. Smuggling fees are very expensive and are usually paid by the family of the immigrant who live in the United States. The U.S. is trying to lessen the amount of smuggling that occurs. In order to do so, many propositions have been considered. One proposition is that the government goes against the family that pays these fees, however this rises many legal issues. For example, let’s say a person holds illegal dog fighting and uses the funds from their family to rent out a storage house where to hold them, should the family be held legally responsible? Also the smuggling process is a very dangerous one and often time results in death of some of the passengers. If the Coast Guard finds these immigrants at sea, they are interviewed and if they seem to have a well-founded fear of persecution they are granted asylum. If there is no apparent fear, they are sent back to Cuba. What happens when they get sent back? Well ideally, U.S. interest sections would monitor the immigrants who were repatriated and interview them. (link 7) However, because no migration talks with Cuba have been held since 2004, there have been no discussions of their responsibility to allow U.S. diplomats to travel, in order to monitor returned migrants. Under Cuban law, illegal immigration is a crime, in which as a result the Cuban government has the excuse to harass, torture, and discriminate against these people. If we are only sending them back to torture and harassment, why should we send them back? (link 8)
However, the main reason why many people oppose or agree with the U.S. coast guard patrol is the result of the large influence that Cuban Americans have in Miami’s economy and political scene. For the most part, Cubans blindly vote for the Republican Party. Two thirds of the Cuban population lives in Florida, giving them 8% of the states electorate. Because Florida holds 27 electoral votes it is to say that Cuban Americans have had a significant importance in national politics. (link 9)This influence however, creates large party divisions and could drive republicans to favor Cuban immigration and democrats to oppose it. In Obamas current administration, he has tried to better the Cuban-democratic relationship by lifting traveling and money transfer restrictions with Cuba. However, this has been quite controversial because this could possibly increase or decrease the amount of Cubans that want to come to the U.S. . Cubans also have had a large influence in the successful economy of Florida. This is portrayed through the various business and economic reports produced by Miami Dade County. Three out of ten of the largest businesses in Miami are Cuban owned or managed. There are 19,700 Cuban owned businesses, 4,500 medical doctors, and seventeen high level bank executives. (link 11) What could be more demonstrative of their economic success? However, many people argue that the success should not be taken into consideration for two factors. One, there has been an apparent triumph of bilingualism and biculturalism which could in fact show that Cubans have not accepted integration. And two, there has been a large decline of the cities native old elite ethnically European and Jewish people. (Link 16)
All these examples show why there are many problems with the policies on Cuban immigration and this is why I believe there should be reviews held on the U.S. Cuban Immigration Accord.
1. http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/cubanimmigration.html
2. http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/wetfoot-dryfoot.html
3. http://www.usimmigrationsupport.org/illegal_immigration.html
4. http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-05/2009-05-23-voa14.cfm?CFID=318014791&CFTOKEN=56659914&jsessionid=6630b62b6c95044af81e624b7a65205d1b20
5. http://www.voanews.com/english/archive/2009-05/2009-05-23-voa14.cfm?CFID=318014791&CFTOKEN=56659914&jsessionid=6630b62b6c95044af81e624b7a65205d1b20
6. http://archive.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2006/1/11/113342.shtml
7. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/07/27/AR2007072701493.html
8. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wet_feet,_dry_feet_policy
9. http://74.125.93.132/search?q=cache:jXkXLMg-k0cJ:metropolitan.fiu.edu/downloads/exile%2520political%2520power.doc+cubans+in+south+florida+and+their+success&cd=2&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a
10. http://www.princeton.edu/~sociolog/syllabi/centeno_lecture_notes_cubans.html
11. http://books.google.com/books?id=2cdvNHYtcXcC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=cubans+in+south+florida+and+their+success&source=bl&ots=De_NQA8AYQ&sig=A3eH1IpKQSbEmZ-owfWslKjkASU&hl=en&ei=BEPWSuLKMNPIlAeewOXAAQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CAwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=cubans%20in%20south%20florida%20and%20their%20success&f=false
12. http://escritorescubanos.multiply.com/journal/item/757/Cuba_Focus_Cuban_Migration_to_South_Florida.
13. http://www.education.miami.edu/ep/LittleHavana/Monuments/Virgin1/The_Virgin_Mary/Bay_of_Pigs/Exiles/exiles.html
14. http://www.havanatimes.org/?p=8801
15. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_migration_to_Miami
16. http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/the_cubans_of_miami/
17. http://www.vdare.com/rubenstein/060727_nd.htm
18. http://www.city-data.com/us-cities/The-South/Miami-History.html
19. http://tech.mit.edu/V127/N46/long3.html
20. http://www.allbusiness.com/central-america/283731-1.html
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