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USA Ends "Wet Foot/Dry Foot" Policy for Cuban Migrants

Accepted submission by -- OriginalOwner_ http://tinyurl.com/OriginalOwner at 2017-01-19 09:36:00
News

from the propaganda-leverage-no-longer-needed dept.

The World Socialist Web Site reports [wsws.org]

Under the previous policy, Cubans who made it to dry land in US territory were permitted to enter the country and take advantage of the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which allowed Cubans to claim permanent US residency after one year in the country. Cubans who were interdicted at sea by the US Coast Guard, on the other hand, were returned to Cuba.

[...]On January 12, President Barack Obama announced that, effective immediately, the US government would end the so-called "Wet Foot, Dry Foot" policy, as well as the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program. In a joint statement detailing the changes in migration policy, the Cuban government agreed to accept Cuban nationals deported or returned by the US.

Through these programs, Cubans were extended preferential immigration status and a continued incentive to leave the country, which contributed to a "brain drain" of trained professionals and provided Washington and right-wing Cuban exiles the fodder for propaganda about state repression in Cuba fueling a constant stream of refugees.

Cubans will now be treated just as brutally as all other migrants and refugees to the United States, subject to an inhuman regime of incarceration and deportation built up by the Obama administration and soon to be administered by the even more virulently anti-immigrant Donald Trump.

[...]The sudden shift in policy has stranded thousands of Cuban migrants who were making their way to the US borders, particularly through Central America and Mexico, many with the aim of reuniting with family members residing in the US.

Cuba has an abundance of well-trained medical personnel. Economist Dean Baker has pointed out that allowing the American Medical Association to construct artificial barriers to expanding USA's medical labor force is dumb and makes healthcare more expensive [googleusercontent.com]. (orig) [counterpunch.org]


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