President Barack Obama announced on Thursday that he was ending the federal policy of allowing Cubans who arrive to the U.S. without visas to stay, drawing fire from Florida Republicans in Congress. The “wet-foot/dry-foot” policy has been used by refugees fleeing the Castro regime.
Obama has been focused on normalizing relations with Cuba during his second term in the White House and he said this change in policy was part of that.
“Today, the United States is taking important steps forward to normalize relations with Cuba and to bring greater consistency to our immigration policy,” Obama said. “The Department of Homeland Security is ending the so-called ‘wet-foot/dry foot’ policy, which was put in place more than twenty years ago and was designed for a different era. Effective immediately, Cuban nationals who attempt to enter the United States illegally and do not qualify for humanitarian relief will be subject to removal, consistent with U.S. law and enforcement priorities. By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries. The Cuban government has agreed to accept the return of Cuban nationals who have been ordered removed, just as it has been accepting the return of migrants interdicted at sea.
“Today, the Department of Homeland Security is also ending the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program,” Obama continued. “The United States and Cuba are working together to combat diseases that endanger the health and lives of our people. By providing preferential treatment to Cuban medical personnel, the medical parole program contradicts those efforts, and risks harming the Cuban people. Cuban medical personnel will now be eligible to apply for asylum at U.S. embassies and consulates around the world, consistent with the procedures for all foreign nationals.
“The United States, a land of immigrants, has been enriched by the contributions of Cuban-Americans for more than a century,” Obama concluded. “Since I took office, we have put the Cuban-American community at the center of our policies. With this change we will continue to welcome Cubans as we welcome immigrants from other nations, consistent with our laws. During my Administration, we worked to improve the lives of the Cuban people - inside of Cuba - by providing them with greater access to resources, information and connectivity to the wider world. Sustaining that approach is the best way to ensure that Cubans can enjoy prosperity, pursue reforms, and determine their own destiny. As I said in Havana, the future of Cuba should be in the hands of the Cuban people.”
Republicans representing Florida on Capitol Hill lined up against Obama’s change of policy.
From his perch on the U.S. Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., took aim at Obama‘s decision.
“While I have acknowledged the need to reform the Cuban Adjustment Act for some time now, the Obama administration’s characterization of this change as part of the ongoing normalization with the Castro regime is absurd,” Rubio said on Thursday. “It is in fact President Obama's failed Cuba policy, combined with the Castro regime’s increased repression, that has led to a rise in Cuban migration since 2014.
“The Cuban Adjustment Act has provided countless Cubans the opportunity to escape the Castro tyranny,” Rubio added. “However, in recent years it has also led to growing abuses. While some changes were needed, we must work to ensure that Cubans who arrive here to escape political persecution are not summarily returned to the regime, and they are given a fair opportunity to apply for and receive political asylum.
“Furthermore, I am concerned by the decision to terminate the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program,” Rubio continued. “For decades, the Castro regime has forced thousands of doctors to go abroad as a tool of its foreign policy. This is political repression, and I am optimistic that the incoming Trump administration will reverse this part of the executive order and allow these doctors to seek asylum at U.S. embassies or consulates in other countries.”
Rubio expressed some hope that President-elect Donald Trump would break with Obama’s policies, noting he talked to Vice President-elect Mike Pence on the matter.
“I had the opportunity to discuss this issue with Vice President-elect Pence this evening, and I am heartened by the fact that in a week we will have a new administration committed to discarding the failed Cuba policy of the last two years,” Rubio said.
On the other side of Capitol Hill, U.S. Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., also ripped into Obama’s decision.
“Castro uses refugees as pawns to get more concessions from Washington so there is no reason to do away with the Cuban medical doctor program, which is a foolhardy concession to a regime that sends its doctors to foreign nations in a modern-day indentured servitude,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “The repeal of the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program was done because that's what the Cuban dictatorship wanted and the White House caved to what Castro wants, instead of standing up for U.S. democratic values and seeking the return of fugitives from U.S. justice like Joanne Chesimard or seeking compensation for U.S. citizens for their confiscated properties. In another bad deal by the Obama administration, it has traded wet foot/dry foot for the elimination of an important program which was undermining the Castro regime by providing an outlet for Cuban doctors to seek freedom from forced labor which only benefits an oppressive regime.”
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, D-Fla., one of the more vocal supporters of Obama’s Cuba policies in the Florida delegation, said it was now time to end sanctions on that nation.
“The end of the ‘wet foot/dry foot’ policy should be followed by congressional action to lift the outdated economic embargo and improve economic conditions for everyday Cubans,” Castor said. “This is an important step in normalizing our relationship and America must do everything to lift small business entrepreneurs and create opportunities on both sides of the Florida Straits. We must continue to leave the Cold War policies behind and build new bridges for jobs and economic opportunities for both nations.
“I have witnessed how the ‘wet foot, dry foot’ policy created an uneven playing field for immigrants from other Caribbean nations who are also seeking the opportunity to pursue the American dream,” Castor added. “I have also seen Cubans who try to come here for short term visits to see family members negatively affected by ‘wet foot/dry foot.’ The change in policy today will help ensure that we can have safer and more orderly migration with all of our Caribbean neighbors.”
