Article 13.
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
(2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country.
Reuters has published a misleading article describing the Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act as a "perk" despite the fact that Cuba remains the only nation in the Western Hemisphere in which its citizenry is not free to enter and exit their own country.
This is the fundamental reason why the Cuban Adjustment Act was originally enacted on November 2, 1966 and remains relevant and needed today.
Despite the newest regulations, the fact remains that the granting, now of passports [instead of the hated white card], remains arbitrary in addition to restricting entire groups of people that are considered "assets" of the government.
At the same time it would be important to identify those who are regime
elites or state security agents seeking to advance the dictatorship's
totalitarian agenda abroad. The Clinton Administration's 1995 Immigration Accord with the Castro government and the lottery it
generated which was controlled by the regime in Cuba has meant that
regime agents and elites have been able to abuse the process. At the same time actual Cuban refugees have been deported back to Cuba and prison under the infamous wet foot, dry foot policy that sought to subvert the spirit of the 1966 Law.
Carl McGill offered a succinct explanation as to the immorality of the 1995 Accord stating:
"Clinton's policy to return 'rafters' to Cuba is like returning a slave in pre-Civil War America back to his enslaver. This would have condoned civil rights violations and slavery, as returning a 'rafter' to Cuba condones human rights violations and communism. Clinton's decision on this issue is wrong."
This needs
to be addressed and repressive communist party members barred from
entering the United States, but the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act needs to
be maintained and restored so that refugees are no longer returned to their oppressor until Cubans are finally free to enter and exit their own
homeland.
This systematic denial of a basic human right to all Cubans is the reason why the Cuban Adjustment Act is not a "perk" but the response of the United States of America to a situation that effectively makes all Cubans leaving the island without permission, a political refugee. In the case of athletes, and others considered of strategic value - deciding to remain abroad - is considered an act of treason and the Cuban in question, a defector. Baseball players suspected of wanting to leave were banned from playing the sport in Cuba.
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2. An illegal captured anywhere trying to enter the U.S. can be given expedited treatment which means they do not have access to courts but can be immediately deported. This law does not apply to Cubans; they are exempt from expedited removal by law. In cases where Haitians and Cubans have been captured together, Haitians have been deported while the Cuban has been paroled into the U.S.
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4. There is often a claim that illegal aliens should adhere to a law that requires them to return to their country of origin, apply for admission and then wait their turn. Cubans do not have t return to their country of origin to apply for permanent residency. Even when the U.S. suspends temporarily the deportation of illegals, as was recently done for Haitians because of the earthquake, it was made clear by Hilary Clinton that the suspension was for 18 months, and illegal Haitians could not ask for permanent residency based on the suspension.
5. Besides being eligible for medical and social services, the Cuban illegal is not penalized for being a public charge when applying for permanent residency; this is not true for others.
6. But, one might proclaim, Cubans are coming here because of political oppression and must be treated differently. There are all kinds of arguments against this claim, but one stands out as a very salient rebuttal: the Cubans who come here, illegally or not, can and do return to Cuba for visits and other reasons once they get permanent residency or citizenship. In 2009, two hundred and ninety six thousand Cubans returned to the country. The further irony is that while a former illegal Cuban can go to Cuba if they have relatives living there, a natural born non-Cuban U.S. citizen cannot go. You would hardly return to a place voluntarily if you had been persecuted previously. Cubans Immigrate for economic reasons just as others do
Unlike everyone else in the hemisphere, Cubans do not have a right to enter and exit their own country. The regime in Cuba is a totalitarian dictatorship and state sponsor of terrorism with a record of murdering their own nationals for just trying to leave the country. It is not a political question but a human rights question.
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