U.S. Migration Policy to Cuba Anachronic, says NY Times

U.S. migration policy regarding Cuba is anachronic and irrational, affecting relations with neighboring countries and puts in danger lives of many human beings, says an editorial of daily The New York Times

The newspaper makes reference to the letter sent this week by nine Latin American governments to the Secretary of State, John Kerry, asking to put an end to the preferential treatment given Cubans, describing it as discriminatory and a big boost to the person-smuggling bands in the region.

What The New York Times describes as a unusual letter, the Foreign Ministers of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, México, Nicaragua, Panamá and Peru asked for a high-level meeting in order to discuss those rules which promote  the flow ‘disordinate, irregular and insecure’ flow of Cuban citizens through their countries .

The policy of ‘dry feet, wet feet’ allows citizens of the Caribbean island who arrive at U.S. territory may become permanent residents after a year and ask for this nation’s citizenship after six, while those captured at sea are sent back.

The Times says this migration fed human traffic operations through Central and South America, so those countries were forced to give them refuge, frequently for several months to the thousands of Cubans that were stranded along the way.

Despite the measures taken by President Barack Obama to normalize relations with Cuba, it rejects any change in migration regulations regarding the largest of the Antilles and that delay will worsen this difficult problem, adds the New York daily.

If the present administration denies to take action, the next one will have to when it assumes power in January, 2017, concludes the text published Wednesday in the paper’s printed edition and appearing today in the digital version.

On the other hand, the spokesperson of the White House, Josh Earnest, repeated yesterday that the U.S. government dismissed that Congress would revise the Law of Adjustment for Cubans (LAC) approved in 1966.

The director general of the United States at the Cuban Foreign Ministry, Josefina Vidal, considers LAC and the policy of ‘dry feet-wet feet’ are in contradiction with migratory agreements between Cuba and the U.S. and are the main incentive for illegal emigration and traffic of persons.