While Cubans who come to the U.S. and take advantage of the Cuban Adjustment Act to receive special treatment brag about the fact that they are not “political” refugees but instead “economic” refugees, there are real political refugees from Cuba whose immigration status here in the U.S. is in limbo:
Homeland Security Law Blocks Green Card Status for Immigrants who Opposed Castro and Saddam
The difference between foreign policy and U.S. law has been on full display for about 4,000 immigrants trapped in limbo by an American government that can’t agree with itself.
For those who fought against Saddam Hussein while he ruled Iraq, or Fidel Castro’s Communist regime in Cuba, the expectation was that the United States would welcome these individuals with the chance of starting new lives, and that included gaining American citizenship. But that hasn’t turned out to be true.
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Francisco Saborit, who wound up in a Cuban prison for protesting Castro’s government by breaking a sugar cane cutting machine, has waited more than five years to receive his green card. He will continue to wait, because the U.S. government considers his political activity “subversive,” making him ineligible for permanent residency.
It is sad to see that many of the Cubans who claim to be economic refugees — even though they claimed political asylum when entering the U.S. in order to receive fast-tracked residency — are the same ones enjoying yearly vacations in Castro run resorts on the island, or make a living traveling every few weeks to Cuba to sell merchandise. In the meantime, real political refugees like Francisco Saborit languish in limbo, wondering if they will ever receive the same treatment in the U.S. their fellow Cubans who enjoy Cuba as tourists receive.