Immigration debate misses big exception
By RHONDA B. GRAHAM
03/30/2006
An elephant-sized issue is being avoided amid
the rallies and emotional debates about illegal immigration
currently preoccupying Americans.
If you're Mexican, you take your chances and
cross through the deadly desert of the 2,000-mile border separating
your country from the United States. If you're from Haiti, your best
hope is that the Coast Guard gets so absorbed in processing other
refugees that you can escape before the rifles come out and they
start target practicing on your shabby dinghy.
But, if you're from Cuba and can get your foot
on American soil, your citizenship is virtually instantaneous.
This discriminatory policy goes back to the
1960s when Fidel Castro's communist rise to power was an
embarrassing and threatening affront to the American way of life.
The 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act gave legal residency to hundreds of
thousands of mostly upper-class and educated Cubans who fled the
land and power grab of Castro's regime. In 1980 Castro willingly
shipped over more. Most were criminals, unskilled workers or
mentally ill. Fearing the kind of crush that now undergirds the
arguments of immigration opponents, the Clinton Administration came
up with the current "wet foot/dry foot" policy after thousands of
Cubans begin arriving on crude rafts, boats and inner tubes in the
1990s. More than 37,000 Cubans were rescued from the Atlantic Ocean.
A 1994 policy only turns back those who couldn't make it to dry
land.
Since last week more than half a million
illegal immigrants and supporters demonstrated against a U.S. House
bill that sets severe restrictions on access to citizenship and
harsh penalties for employers, clergy and even doctors who offer
assistance to illegal immigrants.
Los Angeles, Chicago, Denver, Phoenix and
Milwaukee saw flag-waving throngs from most Latin American
countries, but in southern Florida, where the Cuban community
predominates, protests were sparse. An immigration activist told a
local newspaper he was surprised that only about 500 protesters
gathered outside Miami's federal immigration headquarters last
Thursday. Nearly all were Haitians.
Local and national Latinos privately
acknowledge the awe that Cubans. They see how a citizenship
guarantee helps the social and political influence of a culture to
gain dominance. From the California farm worker to the Colorado
firefighter and New Mexico roofer, you hear the admiration for
Cuban-American's ability to pull off what other countries have been
unable to provide.
But there is also a silent confusion and some
even say resentment at such privilege. Non-Cubans are surviving
among the shadowy communities of illegal work forces. This reality
makes avoiding deportation a priority over picking a fight about the
favoritism your cultural brothers and sisters enjoy.
Despite the legislative rancor, it's clear
that a new immigration law will be fashioned before the mid-term
elections. The business community will likely get its way on guest
worker permits, while hardliners will get some secure-border-measure
for the Minuteman militia to test. Driver's licenses and
English-language requirements seem possible.
Still, it will be a serious mistake for our
political leaders to ignore the special status that a small
percentage of the Latino population enjoys.
Such is the result of the "dry feet/wet feet"
policy, rooted in the outdated 1966 act. It goes against what we
tell fleeing masses about American democracy. At best it insures the
full benefit of citizenship to a desperate few. At worst, it smacks
of state-sanctioned, ethnic prejudice creating a caste system among
Latinos and other wannabe citizens.
Contact Rhonda B. Graham, a News Journal
editorial writer, at rgraham@delawareonline.com .