In a charge that threatens to upset improving U.S.-Cuba relations, the communist island government has accused Washington of “abuse and repression” of illegal Cuban immigrants.
Cuba has been caught in a growing Latin American immigration war, recently forced to take back hundreds who were trying to sneak into the United States by foot.
Several countries in the region, the latest being Ecuador, have refused to participate with the United Nations in flying the Cubans to Mexico where they continue to the U.S. on foot, and instead are sending them home.
In a government statement, Cuba said that the U.S. policy of letting in some Cubans through the Mexican border is causing a crisis in the region and at home where repatriation policies are complicated and difficult.
The statement, first reported by the Center for Immigration Studies this week, said:
“It is the responsibility of the government of the United States and immigration policy, made in recent decades, the situation created with Cuban irregular migrants in the region, who initially traveled abroad legally, meeting all the requirements of our immigration regulations, to subsequently initiate an irregular journey encouraged by the policy of ‘[Wet] Foot, Dry-Foot’ policy, the ‘Program Parole for Cuban medical professionals’ and the Cuban Adjustment Act, which give our citizens a selective and only treatment throughout the world, while constituting a violation of the migratory agreements signed between the two countries.
“This policy is inconsistent with the current bilateral context, prevents the normalization of migratory relations between Cuba and the US and creates problems for other countries, while the rest discriminates migrants, including minors, who at the border of the United States suffer abuse and repression before being deported en masse.”
U.S. rules give special status to Cubans who arrive on foot, but not boat, forcing those trying to enter to go though Latin American countries. Many still try to arrive via boat, but are turned back.
Recent moves to ease relations are forcing even more Cubans to seek entry into the United States, where they are welcomed as refugees, and much differently than other illegals. They fear that once relations normalize, they will have to get in line behind thousands of others trying to get legal American citizenship.
But some Latin nations are fed up with the surge in Cubans and are turning them back.
Paul Bedard, the Washington Examiner’s “Washington Secrets” columnist, can be contacted at [email protected]
