Miami lawmaker signals fading support for special rules for Cuban immigrants

Miami lawmaker signals fading support for special rules for Cuban immigrants
Megan O'Matz and Sally KestinContact Reporters
Sun Sentinel

Ros-Lehtinen favors curbing welfare fraud by Cubans traveling back and
forth to island

The longest-serving Cuban-American in Congress may be easing her staunch
support for the preferential immigration law for Cubans, saying "it
wouldn't break my heart if it is done away with.''

Miami Republican Ileana Ros-Lehtinen has been one of the most stalwart
defenders of the Cuban Adjustment Act, but said those who now exploit it
by quickly returning to Cuba are "not in fear of persecution" and
"should not have the privilege."

Appearing on Facing South Florida with Jim DeFede, which airs Sunday at
8:30 a.m. on CBS4, Ros-Lehtinen said a Sun Sentinel investigation opened
her eyes to welfare abuses by recent Cuban arrivals who are collecting
U.S. assistance and returning to Cuba.

"They're coming here and they're taking welfare benefits when they've
never worked in the United States, they've never contributed to the
greatness of our nation, and they're taking their money and going to
Cuba,'' Ros-Lehtinen told DeFede. "That has got to stop.''

Ros-Lehtinen is an influential leader of the powerful Cuban bloc in
Congress that has long protected the special status of Cuban immigrants.
Cubans are allowed into the U.S. just by touching American soil and can
swiftly become permanent residents under the act.

Passed a half century ago, the law was intended to provide legal status
to Cubans who escaped to the U.S. after Fidel Castro took power. It has
remained in place and become a coveted perk for Cuban immigrants who
enjoy a fast-track to residency unavailable to any other immigrant group.

Ros-Lehtinen told DeFede she still does not "favor doing away
completely'' with the act, but her stance was noticeably less protective
than previous statements.

As Congress considered repealing the act in 1996, Ros-Lehtinen argued
that it was "desperately needed."

"The conditions that the Cuban people live under now are the same as in
1966 when the act was passed, and their situation has not improved but
gotten worse," she said, according to the Miami Herald.

In November 2014, she told the Sun Sentinel: "I'm not in favor of
getting rid of it because tomorrow there will be someone who will be
worthy of that designation so, what we need to do is cut down on its abuse."

In January, the newspaper published Plundering America, documenting how
criminal rings from Cuba had created a pipeline to the U.S., ripping off
U.S businesses and federal programs, including Medicare, of more than $2
billion over two decades.

In October, the Sun Sentinel published Easy Money, revealing how some
Cubans cash in on U.S. welfare and return to the island, making a
mockery of the decades-old premise that they are refugees fleeing
persecution at home.

Ros-Lehtinen has said that she was leaving any reform up to freshman
U.S. Rep. Carlos Curbelo, the son of Cuban exiles. He has been working
on legislation that would modify the Cuban Adjustment Act by sanctioning
Cubans who return to Cuba before becoming U.S. citizens.

Another congressman, Paul Gosar of Arizona, on Oct. 23 introduced a bill
that would outright repeal the act. The effort is about "making sure
that everybody is subject to the same rules, and that means nobody gets
preferential treatment," Gosar said in an interview.

He cited the Sun Sentinel's reporting on the crime rings coming from
Cuba as evidence the act should be abolished. "We've actually allowed
this loophole to occur so that the criminal element and organized crime
have now exploited that," he said.

His legislation has nine co-sponsors, many of them conservatives who
have been outspoken on immigration issues. None are from South Florida.

Gosar's bill was referred to the House Judiciary Committee, which is
examining whether changes need to be made to the act in light of
President Obama's decision to normalize relations with Cuba, a committee
aide told the Sun Sentinel.

Under Gosar's bill, the Obama Administration could still honor the
nation's policy to allow any Cuban who makes it to land to stay in the
U.S. But without the Cuban Adjustment Act, they would no longer be able
to obtain permanent residency, known informally as a green card, within
a year.

Gosar's bill does not eliminate the welfare and aid given to most Cuban
immigrants, but likely would result in far fewer Cubans coming to the
U.S., policy experts said.

Ros-Lehtinen told CBS4 that she did not expect any changes to
immigration law any time soon. She noted that newly-elected House
Speaker Paul Ryan does not want to tackle immigration, and "is not going
to touch that third rail."

She told CBS4 that Congress may be able to curb welfare fraud by Cubans
traveling back and forth to the island, saying "perhaps if we can do it
without touching immigration, then that would be something that is doable."

Ros-Lehtinen told the Sun Sentinel that one avenue could be the Refugee
Education Assistance Act, passed in 1980, which authorized refugee
benefits for thousands of Cubans arriving in the Mariel Boatlift and
those coming for decades afterward.

Since Obama announced Dec. 17 that the U.S. would renew diplomatic
relations with Cuba, more and more Cubans have been migrating to the
U.S. via boat or crossing into the U.S. from Mexico, for fear that the
U.S. may soon end their special immigration treatment.

momatz@tribpub.com or 954-356-4518; skestin@tribpub.com or 954-356-4810.

Source: Miami lawmaker signals fading support for special rules for
Cubans coming to US - Sun Sentinel -
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/nationworld/fl-ileana-cuban-adjustment-act-20151030-story.html