Speech #890282635

Speaker. on January 1. 1959. Fidel Castro took control of the government in Cuba and shortly thereafter turned that island country into a Communist totalitarian state. Since that time approximately 300.000 refugees from Cuba have come to the United States to seek asylum from Communist oppression. The United States. consistent in its traditional policy of offering haven to the refugee. accepted this host of unfortunates and for the first time in our history the United States became a country of first asylum for refugees. Immediately after the Communist regime came to power. Cubans began fleeing to the United States. At the beginning of the exodus. when American consular offices were still open in Cuba. refugees applied for visas and. if successful. were admitted to the United States for permanent residence. Additionally. many more arrived with visitors visas. When diplomatic relations were severed with Cuba. January 3. 1961. and U.S. consuls were withdrawn. increasing numbers of Cubansan average of about 6.000 per month during 1962continued to flee to the United States assisted by a visa waiver arrangement agreed to by the Secretary of State and the Attorney General. pursuant to the provisions of section 212(d) (4) of the Immigration and Nationality Act. Under this system. any person in the United States could fill out an application requesting the U.S. Government to admit a person from Cuba without the benefit of a visa. As a result. the majority of the refugees from Cuba entering the United States since the Castro takeover have done so in a status other than that of permanent residence. Cuban refugees continued to flee until October 22. 1962. when commercial air flights from Cuba to the United States were suspended. Later. more than 10.000 refugees came from Cuba in the first half of 1963 on American Red Cross ships and planes involved in the Bay of Pigs prisoner exchange. Afterward relatively small numbers of refugees arrived in the United States by courageously crossing the straits in small boats to Florida. Those arrivals since 1961 approximate 8.500. Then. on September 28. 1965. Castro accused the United States of refusing entry of persons wishing to leave Cuba to join relatives in this country. President Johnson quickly responded to this challenge and on October 3. 1965. announced the new conditions under which the United States would accept all Cubans who sought asylum in the United States. As a result of this announcement. an orderly entry by airlift commenced on December 1. 1965. some 35.000 refugees have since arrived in the United States to be reunited with their families. a prime objective of our immigration policy. Although proposals for adjustment of status of Cuban refugees were discussed in the course of our deliberations on the act of October 3. 1965. the recent amendments to the Immigration and Nationality Act. and were discussed during the conference on that legislation. it was the position of our committee that adjustment legislation at that time was premature. We were not then in a position to speculate on the precise arrangements that would be made to implement the agreement that refugees would be permitted to leave Cuba. Also. in view of possible diplomatic implications at that time. it was concluded that action be deferred until there was a clear and unequivocal expression from the Department of State that passage of such adjustment of status legislation would be purely for humanitarian and practical reasons and would in no way reflect any change in the attitude of the U.S. Government with regard to the present regime in Cuba. This is the historical background that has led to the legislation which is before us todaylegislation carefully considered and evaluated before it was brought to the floor. The bill under consideration will simply permit a refugee from Cuba in the United States to obtain permanent resident status without the necessity of physically leaving and reentering the United States. I wish to emphasize that this legislation is permissive and merely relieves the Cuban refugee. desirous of attaining permanent status. from the burden of following a circuitous route to that status. Under the provisions of existing law. a Cuban refugee. like any native of the Western Hemisphere. is precluded from adjustment of status in the United States and thus must travel to a consular post and apply for an immigrant visa. be processed. and then reenter the United States as an immigrant. This procedure is not only a timeconsuming and financial burden on the refugee but it places an unduly heavy workload on the consular posts in contiguous territory. particularly in Canada. Please bear in mind that natives of Cuba are classified as special immigrants under the Immigration and Nationality Act. and as such may enter the United States without numerical limitation if otherwise eligible. The fact that the United States no longer maintains diplomatic relations with Cuba has resulted in the inability of refugees to obtain immigrant visas in Cuba and has necessitated the parole of Cuban refugees into the United States. The legislation recommended by the committee will permit a native or a citizen of Cuba who was admitted. inspected. or paroled into the United States to apply for adjustment to permanent resident status and have his status adjusted in the discretion of the Attorney General if he is otherwise eligible to receive an immigrant visa. The Attorney General is authorized to create a record of lawful admission for permanent residence as of the date of the approval of the application for adjustment. The Immigration and Naturalization Service reports that as of August 1. 1965. 165.000 refugees from Cuba are in the United States without permanent status and would become eligible to apply for permanent residence if this legislation is enacted. The committee was faced with the issue of whether the adjustment of status should be retroactive to the date of original arrival into the United States or whether the adjustment should be effective as of the date of petition approval. Testimony received. during the course of hearings. from representatives of the Department of State.