Cubans hate playing by the same rules

Miami's Cuban community is outraged at the fate of nine would-be Cuban defectors being held by the INS in Buffalo. The Cubans, attending a conference in Canada, crossed the border expecting to be welcomed with open arms. However, the local INS office has detained them until an immigration judge can rule on their asylum claims.

Immigrants from any other nation in the world would undergo similar treatment. Such treatment is often barbaric and unecessary (such as sharing jail space with violent criminals). However, the Cuban-American community or their representatives in Congress had never deigned to fight the nation's harsh immigration laws. They are the beneficiaries of the "dry foot" doctrine -- if Cubans enter US soil, they automatically receive asylum. No other immigrants receive such preferential treatment. That's one reason the Latino community abandoned Miami Cubans during the Elian Gonzales fiasco. Cubans have always played by different rules, and damn the rest.

But now some of their own are being subjected to the nation's immigration laws, and they are outraged!

The laws are there to protect those who have a well-founded fear, and [the defectors] have established a credible fear. The law says release them.

Actually, the law says a judge decides whether the defectors have established a well-rounded fear of persecution, not the Cuban-American wingnuts in Miami.

If Cuban-Americans don't like the treatment their people are receiving in Buffalo, the should petition Congress to change the laws applying to ALL immigrants. Anything less is self-interested hypocrisy.

Posted September 16, 2002 08:28 AM | Comments (1)