Legal Immigrants?
Both Melquiades “Mel” Rafael Martinez, US Senate [R-FL] and Carlos M. Gutierrez, Secretary of the US Department of Commerce are immigrants. If they had been from Mexico, Central America, or South America, they would probably not be legal.
Their “legality” is based solely on the fact they emigrated from Cuba, and are covered by an amnesty, a special law that only applies to Cubans. If a Cuban sets foot on US soil, s/he is automatically allowed to stay in the US. You have to be a really good professional athlete to get this deal if you are from any other country.
The “problem” with the immigration system is that it isn’t fair. Some people get to cut into line, or get a separate line. If you make the system fair and efficient, people will use it. It shouldn’t require a lawyer to immigrate to the United States.
7 comments
Yabbut, if we start doing that, how will Castro know we hate his breathing guts?
Unfortunately, that stupid loophole has about as much of a chance of getting closed as we have of dumping our whole insane Cuba policy. The Repugnacons (and, sadly, far too many Democrats) don’t want to piss off the Calle Ocho crowd, so a bunch of head-in-the-sand reactionaries get to control what is arguably one of the most important sectors of our foreign policy, to the detriment of the real interests of the nation–and the achievement of the goal the Cuban exiles themselves want, getting rid of Castro.
… so a bunch of head-in-the-sand reactionaries get to control what is arguably one of the most important sectors of our foreign policy… – Michael
You mean… professional baseball?
That nut-case policy toward Cuba cost me a chance to hear the great Cuban jazz pianist Chucho Valdes live in a scheduled concert in Houston, on the city’s free concert series in the Hermann Park shell. Everything was arranged; they didn’t bother to block him and his band until they were at the Havana airport. Yes, the U.S. blocked him, not Cuba. The city promoters were hard pressed to find a local band to substitute on the very day of the concert. (The band they found was very good; our Latin music community here is second to none. But they didn’t have Chucho.)
Bastards. No, not the band; the officials who blocked Valdes from coming here. I hope that Hell for them is an endless series of Florence Foster Jenkins recordings.
We are keeping that asshole, Castro, in power. Everything that is wrong in Cuba is blamed on the US, and Castro gets a free pass.
I have been involved in immigration issues for friends of my Mother dealing with relatives from the Eastern Bloc and Russia. It is a nightmare. There is no clear path to follow. Things happen more by chance than pattern.
There should be a booklet that tells people what they have to do, what documents they need, what forms they need to fill out. Every time I been involved things have changed.
Hmmm…. the Shrubbery is to diplomacy as Florence Foster Jenkins is to singing
Amateurs whose loyal lapdogs insist they are the best in the world.
That is a gross insult to my favorite coloratura-in-her-own mind!
Imagine, if we started deporting Cubans like we deport Mexicans and Salvadorenos. What would happen in Cuba without a safety valve to relieve the pressures of a really bad economy? What would Cubans do without relatives sending money home from the United States?
Cuba can’t depend only on Euros from European tourists for economic support.
Castro would have been kicked out decades ago if it weren’t for the stupid US policies.