Manuel Yepe: The Cuban Adjustment Act Laid Bare

[magbana]

THE CUBAN ADJUSTMENT ACT LAID BARE
By Manuel E. Yepe

http://www.walterlippmann.com/docs2413.html
A CubaNews translation by Will Reissner.
Edited by Walter Lippmann.

“Drastic reduction in the illegal migration of Cubans to the U.S.” is how the Miami Spanish-language daily El Nuevo Herald headlined a report that refutes the fallacy that the chaotic and illicit arrival of Cubans in the United States is due to political motivations.

According to the article published on April 23, 2009, “at the end of the first quarter of fiscal year 2009, statistics from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) show a marked decline in the influx of Cubans, by sea as well as through border crossings with Mexico and Canada.

“The figures indicate that only 4,554 Cubans have sought refuge on U.S. territory through various routes since last October, a much lower total than the 14,061 who arrived during fiscal year 2008.”

Later the article notes that “Cubans who succeed in entering U.S. territory can obtain resident status thanks to the Cuban Adjustment Act, in effect since 1966,” but the article tries to explain the reduction in numbers as due to a supposed “strengthening of controls in the Florida strait, as well as increased coordination in the work of the agencies that monitor the borders and the severity of court proceedings against the smugglers.”

It concludes that, although many factors are involved, the biggest cause of the reduced migratory flow of Cubans is the economic crisis. But the article attributes this simply to the fact that, due to the grave economic situation and the financial meltdown hitting south Florida especially hard, in the context of the crisis trips to smuggle humans from Cuba to U.S. shores have become too expensive.

Only at the end of the article do they provide the information that gets at the heart of the matter: “Many Cubans who at one time were ready to risk a sea crossing to seek their fortune in the United States are now having second thoughts, discouraged by the advice of their family members who have lost their homes and jobs in this country.”

It is well-known that part of the aggressive strategy waged against Cuba by 10 successive U.S. administrations prior to the present one headed by Barack Obama, has been to encourage the uncontrolled emigration of Cubans, a phenomenon that has been used propagandistically to point to the failure of the island’s revolutionary aims. This is the source of the incorrect idea that all Cuban immigrants in the United States are there for political reasons.

The economic and financial blockade; the threats of military attacks; the attempts to exclude and politically and diplomatically isolate Cuba all aim to foster discontent and weaken the formidable popular support for the revolutionary leadership that has given solidity and consistency to its vision.

Since November 1966, 39 years ago, the Cuban Adjustment Law has been the mechanism through which the United States has robbed the country of its scientists, professionals, technicians, sports figures, and artists, and it has served as fodder for U.S. threats to provoke a migration crisis between the two countries that could justify a possible military attack.

The Cuban Adjustment Act automatically makes all Cubans who arrive illegally eligible to receive permanent residence one year and one day after their arrival in the United States, a privilege not offered to citizens of any other nationality. You have to be Cuban!

This privilege does not apply to legal emigration unless it involves deserters from official missions or work assignments and, as a rule, potential beneficiaries have to risk their lives, often in a hazardous sea crossing in which the estimates are that no less than 15 percent of those who attempt it die.

The publicity value is proportional to the sensationalism of each case. If minors or senior citizens are involved, that gets morbid emphasis. And the point always has to be trumpeted that the immigrants are “fleeing the Communist system, the regime’s repression, and the disaster of the Cuban economy.”

Anyone relying on reports in the United States press might assume that there is a greater desire to emigrate from Cuba than from any other country in the hemisphere, but in fact the opposite is true.

Despite the half-century economic blockade and the existence of the criminal U.S. Adjustment Act, the country with the least migratory pressure in the region is Cuba, where it is much lower than in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and almost all the other Central and South American countries.

The blatant lie that the illegal immigration of Cubans has a political basis has been refuted in recent years by the fact that in the past two or three decades Cuban immigrants in the United States return to the island as visitors a short time after having left and, in fact, according to polls, there has been a change in the collective sentiment of the Cuban community in the United States regarding relations with their homeland.

The news that there has been a decline in the illegal immigration of Cubans to the United States since the start of the economic crisis that is affecting the superpower, is an indication of the economic rather than political character of the migratory flow. This exposes the false premises of the arguments that led to the enactment and criminal enforcement of the Adjustment Act against Cuba.

April 2009

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WALTER LIPPMANN
Los Angeles, California
Editor-in-Chief, CubaNews
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CubaNews/
"Cuba - Un Paraíso bajo el bloqueo"
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__._,_.___

[Judi Lynn]

1. Great point to be remember for passing on to others:

~snip~
Anyone relying on reports in the United States press might assume that there is a greater desire to emigrate from Cuba than from any other country in the hemisphere, but in fact the opposite is true.

Despite the half-century economic blockade and the existence of the criminal U.S. Adjustment Act, the country with the least migratory pressure in the region is Cuba, where it is much lower than in Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, and almost all the other Central and South American countries.

The blatant lie that the illegal immigration of Cubans has a political basis has been refuted in recent years by the fact that in the past two or three decades Cuban immigrants in the United States return to the island as visitors a short time after having left and, in fact, according to polls, there has been a change in the collective sentiment of the Cuban community in the United States regarding relations with their homeland.

The news that there has been a decline in the illegal immigration of Cubans to the United States since the start of the economic crisis that is affecting the superpower, is an indication of the economic rather than political character of the migratory flow. This exposes the false premises of the arguments that led to the enactment and criminal enforcement of the Adjustment Act against Cuba.

Thanks for posting this. It's headed straight into my files.