By Guillermo Martinez in The Sun-Sentinel:
Obama Administration is Problem, not Adjustment Act
Don't get rid of law because some violate it.
Many in the Cuban exile community are responding to the series of abuses committed by their countrymen who come under the Cuban Adjustment Act, and are proposing that the law be abrogated.
I disagree.
It is undeniable that a good number of those coming under the law passed in 1966 are coming in as refugees, and a year and a day after arriving in the United States are jumping on a plane to go back to Cuba. Those who do this are not refugees.
Others make arrangements so they can get Social Security payments deposited in a bank account in this country and then for a fee, a friend who keeps part of the money sends the rest to the recipient who is living in Cuba. There the exiled Cubans who have returned to live with more money than the average Cuban who earns about $24 a month. They should be prosecuted.
People who abuse the Cuban Adjustment Act are not refugees and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And after they serve their time in jail they should be sent back to Cuba with a notation that they are not welcome in this country.
What I do not accept is the premise that because people violate a law, the law should be abolished. Those who violate it should be prosecuted. If they are not, that is the responsibility of a government that is not making sure its laws are enforced.
Cubans are now arriving in record numbers, and only a percentage of them are coming in under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Twenty thousand visas are raffled in Cuba, so those who have no families in the United States have an opportunity to migrate to this country.
Many in this group are also going back to Cuba and violating laws that prohibit Cubans from opening businesses on the island and living there while maintaining their American residency. They, too, should be prosecuted.
Finally there are those that are coming because their relatives in the United States have become U.S. citizens, and are filing immigration papers to bring their spouses, children and parents to this country. They, too, travel to Cuba, which is no longer banned by U.S. law.
The problem we have now is the Obama Administration has made so many changes to U.S.-Cuba relations that it is difficult to discern what is legal and what is not.
That is not a problem with the law. The problem resides with a president who is desperate to normalize relations with Cuba. He wants to become the president that re-established and normalized relations with the Communist-governed island.
Barack Obama is giving away the store to Raul Castro, who has repeatedly said Cuba is not going to change. Cuba will not permit free elections, a free press or foreign companies not controlled by Cuba's military. Human rights abuses are increasing every month. The Cuban government also wants the United States to return the base at Guantanamo, shut down Radio and TV Marti, and for the American government to pay trillions of dollars in reparations for damage done by the embargo/blockade.
It has now been 10 months since relations between the two countries were re-established. The Obama Administration has given Cuba countless benefits. Tourists can now travel to the island and pay with American credit cards. Cubans in the United States can now send more money to relatives or friends on the island.
The Obama Administration has given the Castro regime more than it should. In turn, Raul Castro has not even said "thank you, Mr. President."
The problem is not the abuses under the Cuban Adjustment Act. The problem is not the abuses by the thousands of Cubans who now send money to relatives and friends and go visit the island frequently.
The problem is an administration that has given everything in exchange for very little, and does not make people obey existing law.
I would not trust this administration to modify the Cuban Adjustment Act or any other law regarding Cuba. I refuse to make everyone pay for the crimes committed by some. Prosecute those who violate the law.
I don't want the privileges we enjoyed taken away from those still seeking freedom. It would hurt me to hear: You came under that law and now that you are here you want to close the door to others.
Too many immigrants have done that. I don't want to be one of them
Obama Administration is Problem, not Adjustment Act
Don't get rid of law because some violate it.
Many in the Cuban exile community are responding to the series of abuses committed by their countrymen who come under the Cuban Adjustment Act, and are proposing that the law be abrogated.
I disagree.
It is undeniable that a good number of those coming under the law passed in 1966 are coming in as refugees, and a year and a day after arriving in the United States are jumping on a plane to go back to Cuba. Those who do this are not refugees.
Others make arrangements so they can get Social Security payments deposited in a bank account in this country and then for a fee, a friend who keeps part of the money sends the rest to the recipient who is living in Cuba. There the exiled Cubans who have returned to live with more money than the average Cuban who earns about $24 a month. They should be prosecuted.
People who abuse the Cuban Adjustment Act are not refugees and should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. And after they serve their time in jail they should be sent back to Cuba with a notation that they are not welcome in this country.
What I do not accept is the premise that because people violate a law, the law should be abolished. Those who violate it should be prosecuted. If they are not, that is the responsibility of a government that is not making sure its laws are enforced.
Cubans are now arriving in record numbers, and only a percentage of them are coming in under the Cuban Adjustment Act. Twenty thousand visas are raffled in Cuba, so those who have no families in the United States have an opportunity to migrate to this country.
Many in this group are also going back to Cuba and violating laws that prohibit Cubans from opening businesses on the island and living there while maintaining their American residency. They, too, should be prosecuted.
Finally there are those that are coming because their relatives in the United States have become U.S. citizens, and are filing immigration papers to bring their spouses, children and parents to this country. They, too, travel to Cuba, which is no longer banned by U.S. law.
The problem we have now is the Obama Administration has made so many changes to U.S.-Cuba relations that it is difficult to discern what is legal and what is not.
That is not a problem with the law. The problem resides with a president who is desperate to normalize relations with Cuba. He wants to become the president that re-established and normalized relations with the Communist-governed island.
Barack Obama is giving away the store to Raul Castro, who has repeatedly said Cuba is not going to change. Cuba will not permit free elections, a free press or foreign companies not controlled by Cuba's military. Human rights abuses are increasing every month. The Cuban government also wants the United States to return the base at Guantanamo, shut down Radio and TV Marti, and for the American government to pay trillions of dollars in reparations for damage done by the embargo/blockade.
It has now been 10 months since relations between the two countries were re-established. The Obama Administration has given Cuba countless benefits. Tourists can now travel to the island and pay with American credit cards. Cubans in the United States can now send more money to relatives or friends on the island.
The Obama Administration has given the Castro regime more than it should. In turn, Raul Castro has not even said "thank you, Mr. President."
The problem is not the abuses under the Cuban Adjustment Act. The problem is not the abuses by the thousands of Cubans who now send money to relatives and friends and go visit the island frequently.
The problem is an administration that has given everything in exchange for very little, and does not make people obey existing law.
I would not trust this administration to modify the Cuban Adjustment Act or any other law regarding Cuba. I refuse to make everyone pay for the crimes committed by some. Prosecute those who violate the law.
I don't want the privileges we enjoyed taken away from those still seeking freedom. It would hurt me to hear: You came under that law and now that you are here you want to close the door to others.
Too many immigrants have done that. I don't want to be one of them
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