WTF. If you win a lottery you can come here from Cuba?
http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/06/09/cuban.taxi.ap/index.html
What strange law makes this acceptable? And they can sink thier car/boats if there are no people on board with the proper (lottery) papers? Are we just waiting for Castro to die before we let them in? (Sorry, I think I know the answer to that!)
What part of this are you objecting to?
The fact that someone can come in if they followed the rules and have the proper paperwork to enter the USA?
Or the fact that they hold a lottery to distribute said papers?
This seems pretty simple to me - the US has a certain number of immigration slots, that are given out by a lottery - any elligible foreigner who fills out the proper paperwork can enter the lottery, and if they are drawn, they can come to the US. These Cubans were thus legally entitled to come to the US. Whether or not this lottery system is a good idea is question best suited for the GD.
http://travel.state.gov/visa/immigrants/types/types_1318.html
Cuba isn’t eliminated, so what’s the problem? They followed the rules, didn’t they?
Yes, there is such a lottery, which has been in existence for many years. It’s called the Diversity Lottery or the Green Card Lottery.
You want a cite? Well, I entered it about 5 years ago (while already in the US on a temporary employment visa), and won it. As a result, my wife and I have had green cards (i.e., have been permanent residents of the US) for 3 years now.
Do I think it’s fair? No, but since it was available, and since it was an easier way to get a green card than getting one on employment grounds, I acted on the advice of my employer’s Legal Department (who would have had to organise a green card for me otherwise), and entered.
I could be way off base, but I thought Cubans enjoyed a special position denied to all other would-be immigrants, in that if they succeed in crossing the straight and reach the US mainland, they could stay in the US legally. But if they get picked up by the Coast Guard en route, then they’d have to go back. Does anybody else remember anything like this?
The article cited in the OP said:
which confirms what Spectre of Pithecanthropus says.
The exception from this is surely the (very rare and possible unique) situation of Cubans intercepted with valid documentation? This seems to have been what happened here, that the wet-foot policy couldn’t be applied in the normal way.
Doesn’t Castro stop Cubans from leaving? I was always under the impression that Cuba had a lottery to let people leave. Heck, I’d even talked to a Cuban who’d won a lottery, and that’s what I’d thought.
And yes, I do know about the US’ Green Card Lottery; I just imagined that Cuba had something to allow emigration.
No answer, but I was amused that googling ‘Cuba Emmigration’ gives the option “Did you mean: cuba immigration”
I also under the impression that it was a lottery in Cuba that allowed Cubans to emmigrate.
It just goes to show that Castro hasn’t lost his sense of humor.
It used to be better than that for the Cubans. Up until the early 90’s, we would bring all Cubans picked up at sea to the U.S., where they’d get to plead their case. My understanding is that most Cubans got to stay. This policy did not sit well with supporters of the tens of thousands of Haitian and Dominicans that would routinely set sail for the U.S. during that time. (As well as small numbers of all other nationalities) Then the “wet foot, dry foot” policy was enacted in the mid 90’s. Now, Cubans intercepted at sea are transferred by CG cutter to the Bahamas for interview and most are repatriated to Cuba.
I believe the main difference between Cuban migrants and most others is that Cubans were considered “Political” migrants (coming from a communist nation) and most others were “Economic” migrants, subject to standard immigration policies. The “WF,DF” policy seems to be a compromise of sorts.
That was the impression I got from the article as well. Cuba has a lottery, but the winners don’t get to leave. WTF? I was also quite impressed /shocked over the car/boat that they were coming over in, very niftey and a shame that they had to sink it. 