U.S. proposal would stop refugees from going home

U.S. proposal would stop refugees from going home

Published on Saturday, 9 May 2015 21:25 - Written by Tribune News Service

The U.S. welcomes thousands of Cubans each year as presumed refugees fleeing political repression, no questions asked. Yet many exploit the special treatment they receive by shuttling back and forth to the island that is allegedly persecuting them.

Now a congressman wants to end that with legislation that would prevent new arrivals from freely traveling back to Cuba until they become U.S. citizens.

If adopted, the revisions would be the most significant changes to the Cuban Adjustment Act in nearly 50 years.

U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, R-Fla., the son of Cuban exiles, proposes to require Cubans seeking entry under the act to attest that they are political refugees. Those who return to the island would face consequences: quite likely the loss of their legal status.

“We are aware of abuses of the Cuban Adjustment Act and are looking to tighten it to assure that only those facing oppression in Cuba can take advantage,” Curbelo said in a statement provided by his office.

The act was adopted in 1966 to give legal standing to thousands of Cuban exiles who fled the island.. Cubans can enter the country just by reaching U.S. soil and become legal residents in only one year, far faster than most other immigrant groups.

The act has helped criminals from Cuba plunder billions of dollars from U.S. taxpayers and businesses. Millions of dollars made its way back to Cuba and the state-controlled economy.

“There’s a crime element to this that we need to eradicate,” Curbelo’s chief of staff, Roy Schultheis, said in outlining the framework of the bill, which is in the very early stages of the legislative process. “We all know that money goes back to Cuba and enriches the Castro regime. That’s not what we want to happen.”

Any effort to modify the Cuban Adjustment Act likely would face a rocky road. The Obama administration, which is working to restore openness between the U.S. and Cuba, has said it is committed to upholding the law.

Pressure to change the law has been building. Long-time exiles and powerful Cuban-American politicians in South Florida — historic protectors of the special privilege — now agree that the law is not being used by all as intended: to come and create new, productive lives in the United States.

Curbelo’s proposal envisions Cubans upon arrival making a formal declaration that they are fleeing the country because of political persecution, but it’s unclear if or how that would be investigated.

Once in the U.S., Cubans who signed such a declaration would face repercussions if they returned to the Communist-led natione, Schultheis said. Travel exceptions for emergencies would be permitted though those details, too, are not yet worked out.

Now, Cubans are presumed refugees and granted U.S. residency without having to prove they were victims of government persecution. Generally, refugees or asylum seekers from other countries have to prove a “well founded fear of persecution,” based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular group.

Unlike refugees from most other countries, many Cubans in recent years have taken to returning to their homeland frequently to visit friends and relatives, party, or ferry goods for their families and businesses there. Criminals, too, return to Cuba to recruit accomplices or stow ill-gotten money.

Curbelo’s proposal seems at odds with momentum built by President Barack Obama’s new regulations for greater travel options to Cuba, including direct flights out of more cities and planned ferry service from Florida. And historically, when the U.S. imposed severe travel restrictions, people disguised their trips and went to Cuba through a third country, such as Mexico or the Bahamas.

Cuba scholar Christopher Sabatini, adjunct professor of international affairs at Columbia University in New York, questioned how restrictions on travel by Cuban immigrants would be enforced. “Why would you create a giant monstrosity to monitor it?”

The real issue, he said, is why the United States continues to preserve the Cuban Adjustment Act at all when many people are fleeing economic conditions on the island, not political oppression. “Why not just treat them like anybody else?”

But Cuban-Americans in Congress have been unwilling to repeal the special preference, citing ongoing human-rights abuses in Cuba and lack of political freedoms.

“It’s a delicate thing because you don’t want to come across against the Cuban Adjustment Act for the people who legitimately do need it,” Schultheis said. “We’re not trying to take away the Cuban Adjustment Act.”