Loophole Lets Cubans Pour into U.S.

Cubans by the thousands are taking advantage of a Cold War relic and lax interpretation by the Obama administration to enter the United States as asylees — even though most probably do not meet the criteria, according to a new report.

The number has rocketed from 7,054 in fiscal year 2009 to 43,154 in fiscal year 2015.

The study, released Monday by the Center for Immigration Studies, details a sharp spike in the number of Cubans without travel visas who have been admitted into the United States. The number has rocketed from 7,054 in fiscal year 2009 to 43,154 in fiscal year 2015. Through Feb. 24, with more than seven months left in the current fiscal year, 25,806 already had come in, a pace that would greatly exceed last year’s total.

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Contrary to the popular image of Cubans fleeing on rickety boats bound for south Florida, the majority of Cubans arrive not by water, but by land. Last year, about two-thirds of incoming Cubans came via the U.S. border patrol office in Laredo, Texas. Under a 1990s-era “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy, had they been picked up by the Coast Guard in international waters, officials would have screened them to determine whether they were truly political asylees — and then sent them back to Cuba.

Dan Cadman, a fellow at the Washington-based think tank, said Citizenship and Immigration Services officers are under orders from the Obama administration not to conduct any screening at the land ports of entry like that which Cubans are subjected to when they are picked up by U.S. vessels.

“One of the ironies we’re seeing is that the United States is undercutting it own policy by allowing the Cubans an alternative path,” he told reporters on a conference call.

U.S. law long has treated Cubans differently from other foreigners, a policy with roots in a Cold War struggle between the U.S. and the Soviet Union’s client state, Cuba. But experts from the Center for Immigration Studies argue that the policy makes little sense now that the Cold War is over, the Soviet Union no longer exists, and the two countries have taken steps to normalize relations.

“The problem with these processes and the flows that we’re seeing is the Cuban Adjustment Act and the accompanying wet-foot, dry-foot policy were intended for refugees and dealing with flows that we were experiencing during  in the Cold War,” said Kausha Luna, a research associate who wrote the report.

[lz_table title=”Visa-less Cubans Admitted to U.S.” source=”Center for Immigration Studies”]Fiscal year,Number admitted
2009,7.1K
2010,7.5K
2011,7.8K
2012,12.2K
2013,17.7K
2014,24.3K
2015,43.2K
2016*,24.8K
|
*Through Feb. 24.
[/lz_table]

Luna described how the Cuba loophole works. A Cuban citizen seeking better economic opportunity flies to Ecuador, which until December did not require tourist visas from Cubans. Once there, the Cubans make their way (usually with the aid of smugglers) through Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and the rest of Central America until arriving in Mexico.

Once there, they present themselves to Mexico’s National Institute for Migration. Luna said that in October, for instance, 900 Cubans turned themselves in at the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. The agency confirms the Cubans’ nationality with their embassy. She said 3.7 percent of Cubans who are apprehended are deported — compared with 88.7 percent of other Central Americans.

“That means the majority, once they come to INM, are released with [a] 20-day safe passage permit,” she said.

During a visit to the border, officials from the think tank said they saw long lines of Cubans — they had their own line — waiting to be processed by U.S. authorities. Once they say the magic words, “Estoy aquí para Ajuste Cubano,” or “I am here for Cuban adjustment,” most get waived into the United States, where a private organization welcomes them and helps then fill out forms for a wide array of government assistance benefits.

Cubans and Haitians — unlike other Central Americans — enjoy immediate access to refugee resettlement assistance and programs like Medicaid and food stamps.

Cadman characterized it as an abuse of a system design to help people fleeing political oppression.

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“Many, many of these individuals — probably the vast majority — are economic migrants,” he said. “They are not people who have opposed the Castro regime. They are not dissidents.”

Cadman emphasized that the benefits of the Cuban Adjustment Act do not kick in until immigration authorities “parole” the Cubans into the country, and there is no legal obligation to do so. He said that it makes little sense to continue to treat its migrants differently than those from any other country, especially in light of the fact that the United States and Cuba have moved to normalize relations.

“Essentially, they are condoning an organized smuggling ring involving tens of thousands of individuals,” he said. “And you have to ask the U.S. government why they would do that.”

Jessica Vaughan, director of policy studies for the center, said the uptick in Cuban migration mirrors an increase generally in the use of asylum to gain entry in the United States. Last year, some 82,000 asylum cases were pending in immigration courts. And that accounts for only about half of such cases, Vaughan said, because many more are adjudicated by Citizenship and Immigration Services officers.

Vaughan said foreigners, including previously deported criminal aliens, have caught on.

“They’re coached on what to say,” she said. “They know what the results will be, and under the current administration, the result will be that they will be allowed to stay and make an asylum claim.”