[Congressional Record Volume 140, Number 13 (Thursday, February 10, 1994)]
[House]
[Page H]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[Congressional Record: February 10, 1994]
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]


                              {time}  1040
 
     INTRODUCTION OF LEGISLATION TO REPEAL THE CUBAN ADJUSTMENT ACT

  (Mr. KOPETSKI asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KOPETSKI. Mr. Speaker, as you know, many people come to our 
country every year seeking asylum. We accept asylum-seekers for 
basically three reasons: family reunification, desirable economic 
benefits, and humanitarian concerns. We turn many people away if they 
do not fit into one of these categories.
  Mr. Speaker, I visited refugee camps in Hong Kong, Thailand, India, 
and Turkey, and I heard the horror stories that people endured and 
learned how difficult it is to gain political asylum in the United 
States.
  However, an exception to our immigration policy allows one group of 
people to come to this country no questions asked. If they stay here a 
year, they gain permanent-residency status. This exception is made not 
on the basis of political oppression, poverty, warfare, or to reunite 
families. Under this exception in 1991-92 more people were given 
permanent status in the United States than were accepted from Cambodia, 
El Salvador, Romania, Somalia, Haiti, and the former Yugoslavia 
combined.
  The reason over 10,000 people were given permanent status in the 
United States was that they were born in Cuba. The Cuban Adjustment Act 
is indefensible and should be repealed, and that is why today I am 
introducing legislation to repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act so Cubans 
will be treated just as every other political asylum seeker in the 
world is treated.
  Mr. Speaker, today I am introducing legislation to repeal the Cuban 
Adjustment Act of 1966.
  Mr. Speaker, the Cuban Adjustment Act allows Cuban nationals who have 
been living in the United States for 1 year, under any circumstances, 
to become permanent residents of the United States. In practical terms, 
the act creates an exception to our immigration law which is not 
available to any other people of any other nationality. In 1991-92 a 
total of 10,851 Cuban nationals adjusted to permanent resident status, 
this is in addition to 7,911 Cuban refugees for the same period. The 
number of Cuban nationals who adjusted under the act exceeds the total 
number of refugees in 1991-92 from Cambodia, El Salvador, Romania, 
Somalia, and the former Yugoslavia. Further, with travel restrictions 
being lowered in Cuba there is a greater likelihood that Cuban 
nationals may be overstaying their nonimmigrant visas and adjusting to 
permanent residence status under the act. The act enables presumably 
any Cuban national who arrives in the United States and finds some way 
to stay here, to become a permanent resident, whether or not he or she 
meets the definition of a refugee or fits within the legal immigration 
preference categories.
  The act was passed in 1966, a time when we as a country had very 
different concerns and priorities. It has not accomplished the goal of 
sending a message to Cuba, even if the message was sent it was never 
heard. Fidel Castro is still in power in Cuba while many of those who 
oppose him now reside permanently in this country. Some have even 
argued that the act has prolonged the Castro regime. The act is a cold 
war relic and it should go the way of other vestiges of the cold war.
  A greater issue raised by the act is its patently discriminatory 
effect. I cannot believe that we are willing to continue to support a 
law which gives this overly generous benefit to people leaving a 
country which is certainly no worse off than many Caribbean and Latin 
American countries. Further, Mr. Speaker because this law allows any 
person who is simply Cuban-born to gain permanent residence status in 
the United States. Cuban-born people who are currently living in 
Germany, Spain or Canada can leave those countries and attain permanent 
residence status in this country if they so desire. How can we continue 
to justify this law when there are so many people fleeing desperate 
situations that we must refuse?
  Mr. Speaker, the repeal of this obsolete law has enjoyed a large base 
of support. It has passed the Senate a number of times and has been 
favorably reported out by the House Juidicary Committee. The Cuban 
Adjustment Act creates the perception of unfairness. But more 
importantly, Mr. Speaker the act is in fact unfair to people throughout 
the world seeking political asylum in the United States. I urge swift 
consideration of this important legislation.

                      56 Cubans Reach Puerto Rico

       San Juan, Puerto Rico.--Fifty-six more Cubans took 
     advantage of a backdoor route into the United States, landing 
     on a remote U.S. island and forcing immigration officials to 
     ferry them to Puerto Rico.
       All were expected to receive asylum in the latest case 
     illustrating the different treatment refugees from Fidel 
     Castro's communist state get from those fleeing political and 
     economic turmoil elsewhere, such as in Haiti.
       The Cubans apparently had flown from Havana to the 
     Dominican Republic, then paid a boat owner to take them 
     illegally on Monday to Mona Island, about halfway across the 
     channel that separates the Dominican Republic from Puerto 
     Rico.
       by late that afternoon, immigration officials had arranged 
     for the Cubans to be flown by helicopter to Puerto Rico. The 
     Mona route was rarely traveled by Cubans before October, but 
     more than 340 have used it since, border patrol officials 
     said.

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