Cuban refugees vs southern border immigrants
 

Please help me to understand; our Cuban neighbors are fighting communism waving our American flag for freedom and seeking food against starvation and medical assistance from poor neglected health issues. Why are they being denied help and not welcomed to the States but our southern border is open allowing pretty much anyone else in including immigrants that may have Covid, drugs, trafficking children, and history of any crimes. We have so many people stuffed into unhealthy tents at our southern border with horrible conditions and that had been abused by cartel coyotes, plus a threat to the local ranchers. Our coast guards are given strict orders to not allow the people from Cuba asylum into the States. Clearly they are starved and fighting for freedom. Help me to understand the difference?!

I can not speak to this issue, but I will be following this thread with interest. Being a native Floridian and born and raised in S. Florida I am fairly familiar with the Cuban population already there.

My brother in law who came over on the Mariel Boatlift in about 1980 has described the conditions that they were living under at that time. It wasn't good. I don't completely grasp why he would take the chance to go back every few years to see his family because of the risk involved. I guess the attraction to his first family overides the commitment to the life he made here.

Things have changed and he will stop returning because his Mom had passed. He still sends money almost every month to help them out. Life is rough over there.

I'm about the only Gringo he can speak to and it's getting tougher to understand him every time I see him. He has a very scratchy voice and I speak very poor Spanglish. Somehow we have become like brothers over the years. He is so grateful to be an American. The day he was crowned American was the only time I saw him cry. He's worried to death about the brothers and sister he has over there but is hopeful for their freedom.

God help them all.

There is no difference. Anyone entering the country should do it legally, and the Government should apply the law equally.

Congratulations on finding a topic to discuss that has more weight than whose dog is pooping in whose yard. Unfortunately, this is unlikely to be a good place for a meaningful discussion. However, if you are really interested in knowing more about this subject, and how Cuba-USA relations evolved over the last 200 years, I recommend doing a Google search for books on US-Cuba history. This one from Amazon is a good one. https://www.amazon.com/Cuba-History-...YBXHEC4T65RY1S
It is a fascinating story, how we got from Christopher Columbus to Fidel Castro, a mere 90 miles or so from our southern border. You can't really understand it without getting into the politics of Communism vs. Imperialism, and once we do that, this thread will be deleted in a heartbeat.
Good luck in your pursuit of a better understanding.

here is a less expensive , but just as expansive, alternative to the book I linked from Amazon.
Same author..
Access to this page has been denied.

no idea why access was denied. the link was supposed to go to "ThriftBooks.com", the author is Hugh Thomas, the title is "Cuba or The Pursuit of Freedom", you can search that site either by author or title. around $14 including shipping. Well over a thousand pages, so you must realize that you'll get a bit more cogent information from that tome than you will from this thread. As evidenced by post #6 above.

Cuban crisis - help!
 

I've been working in Cuba (mission trips) since 2003, and I can tell you they have a great deal of appreciation for our country! If they can get to Florida, they will be welcome by the residents of our state, regardless of what the administration says. I hope many people here speak out/up in defense of the Cubans who love our country & against the repressive regime that hate us.

Totally different! People trying to escape an obvious system that will kill them/"disappear" them. You need to get a grasp on reality!

Thank you, I just ordered the book.

I think that our Cuban neighbors should be helped and allowed legal entry.

I don't disagree. Before I was born (I was born in 1953), my family lived in Havana. WE are not Cuban. My dad was working with a cadre of engineers from Proctor & Gamble building a soap factory. They lived there for 6 months or so.
Of course, P&G lost that enterprise with Castro's revolution, but my dad always had something interesting to say about Cuba, and always had a strong affection for Cuba and the people of Cuba.

Before Dad died, through his connections with Cornell University, he was able to make two return trips to Havana. These were both taken over 60 years after he'd lived there. Needless to say the country has not thrived under Castro, but the USA has had a big hand in that, making policies designed to thwart economic progress in that country. There are a lot of political reasons why that is, and most of them I disagree with.
Again, good luck in your pursuit of a better understanding.

You posting this has rekindled an interest in the subject for me, and reminded me that I wanted to some more reading on it. I also ordered this book.

Great answer! I didn't even know that our Cuban neighbors were granted the right to vote in US elections.

Very informative.

That would be 11.3 million new U.S. residents.

Or, would you be okay if the Cuban Government released all of their prisoners, hospital and mental patients, and others, and shipped them to our country?

If dead people can vote, our Cuban neighbors can vote.

Your describing what’s happening in The Norther Triangle Countries of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras also.
If you want to know about history of Cuba you must start with Fulgencio Batista it’s not that complicated.

The vast majority of those illegally crossing the Southern border state they are doing so to make $$$...

"our southern border is open allowing pretty much anyone else in including immigrants that may have Covid, drugs, trafficking children, and history of any crimes?"
NOT TRUE

It is only a matter of time before we will have to sneak out of our country.

And that’s just what Castro did back in the 70s!

Didn't that happen in 1980?

Cuba and Mexico have no issues with trade or travel. Cubans can go to Mexico and cross the border with all the others. No illegal immigrants should be “paroled” awaiting asylum hearings. They should he held, and processed according to law, but then we would be obligated to hire an adequate number of judges to hold the hearings. Must be cheaper to keep the immigrants than to follow the law.

Those who think this is somehow a very recent government policy, instead of one that goes back 50+ years, really should educate themselves. Don't get mad when you find out who is the one that removed Cuba from the 'United States State Sponsors of Terrorism' list - and then who reinstated travel and trade restrictions.

My heart and prayers go out to them.

God Bless

I too was born & raised in Miami and have several Cuban friends. Most are wonderful hard working people with good family values. Many professional people who came to Miami started out at the bottom and worked tirelessly to become American citizens and regain their professional occupations as doctors, lawyers, teachers, business people etc. They lived & know what living under a socialist regime is like. Thus they vote GOP. That is why current president has this policy.

but was useful to the people of Cuba....many profited once travel to Cuba was opened up

it's ridiculous that I can buy clothing made in Vietnam but there are sanctions against Cuba because politicians want the support of the Cuba Americans

First of all stop listening to the NOISE Cable Propaganda networks - Fox, NewsMax, One America. All you are doing is parroting what you have heard by consuming misinformation. Do some legitimate fact checking! What you have stated is not accurate. Cuban rebels revolted against a Fascist government in the 1950's. They tried Communism but now with the pandemic they are falling on had times. There is no easy solution under the health situation that the world is going through right now.

Don’t forget that nuclear bombs were placed in Cuba in the early 1960s by Russia. Cuba has been and continues to be a communist country. If you watch the movie Scarface with Al Pacino you will get a very good depiction of what it was like to come here in the early 1960s.

The United States and Russia were on the verge of war due to the placement of the bombs in Cuba.

This sounds suspiciously like propaganda to me. First, please correct me if I'm wrong but as far as I can tell, DHS Secretary Mayorkas told Cubans not to attempt ILLEGAL entry by sea into the U.S. Second, the charge that the Mexican border is open to "pretty much anyone else in including immigrants that may have Covid, drugs, trafficking children, and history of any crimes" is ludicrous. And third, where did you hear that "Our coast guards are given strict orders to not allow the people from Cuba asylum into the States"? I could find absolutely nothing to verify that claim.
Political clickbait right from the start...

This thread has been cleaned up and infractions issued for yet more political posts. We believe that this is an important topic and will try to let it run a bit longer. Please keep the political views out of it.

Moderator

Or, we can stop the current deluge of illegal immigrants so the judges can do their jobs...

There is no difference, at all. People seeking a better life will move with their feet, unfortunately Cuba is separated by an ocean. Marco Rubio wants to support Cuba not South America where is the difference.

Hang on when climate change continues there will be a people migration the world has yet to see.

FOX News! Everybody drink!

Yeah! Get your news from reliable sources like CNN & MSNBC!

The current situation in Cuba has nothing to do with Covid. You're just "parroting what you have heard by consuming misinformation."

I visited Cuba 2 years ago (well before Covid). It was a travesty then and it's still a travesty. And it will be a travesty long after Covid is under control...

I agree with your characterization of Cuban refugees. I have also know a lot of “illegal” refugees, and most of them are hard working honest people just trying to create a better life for their families.

Yeah, not so much... They were still making well under $100/month... A few people in the tourism industry, those who could afford the bribes, made some money...

Well, Vietnam normalized relations with the US. Cuba is still in the pocket of Russia and Venezuela...

Dear Moderator, I don't know how it would be possible to discuss a fully political issue and keep politics out of the discussion. The Cuban people are protesting their government ONLY because of the Cuban government's policies. And yes, this is a mighty important current event that America's adults should be allowed to freely discuss, the leniency is appreciated. Thank you.

The difference is the laws in place.

Cubans have a special status, that has been in place for over 50 years...

Cuban Adjustment Act - Wikipedia

So you Agree Only Legal Immigration
 

So you agree all should only be allowed into the country if they follow the legal path?

That is very true. But as long as the site owners want us to enforce the "No politics" rule we either shut down anything that relates to politics or we find a way to discuss things in a non political way. It is what it is.

Moderator

Cubans Know Socialism Is Wrong
 

True. Cubans know the dangers of socialism and communism.

Hi,
My cousin is a border agent on the southern border and from what he tells me it is not true that the border is wide open, everyone is not just being allowed in and anyone who promotes that idea either does not know what they are talking about, or is just spreading falsehoods to frighten the American public. There is a procedure for those seeking asylum and the difficulty comes from the volume of those doing so at the moment. The process is being made more difficult by the interference from those being sent there by the governors from other states supposedly to help "guard" the border. These supposed guards are more hindrance than help. With regard to Cubans, they have been welcomed in to the US for the past 60 years and there is a special exemption for admittance for them. Many Cubans know that when they come to the southern border and that they can be accepted for asylum much easier there.