Speech #890297283

Mr. President. when Fidel Castro turned the Cuban Government into a Communistdominated area in 1959. many Cubans fled to the United States. These people applied for and were granted visas by our consular offices in Cuba. Although some of the visas were student or visitor visas. the great majority provided permanent resident status. In January 1961. our Government closed these consular offices but permitted the Cubans to continue to enter our country through a visawaiver process. Cuban refugees have continued to seek asylum in the United States. even after the missile crisis of October 1962 cut off direct flights from Cuba to this country. On December 1. 1965. the United States permitted a new influx of Cuban refugees to come directly from Cuba on flights chartered by our Government. As the result of our opendoor policy for Cuban refugees. which Is commendable and consistent with our traditional asylum policies. thousands of these fine people have reached our shores over the past 6 years. The large majority. however. have indefinite voluntary departure or parole status. The Cuban refugee program of the Federal Welfare .Administration charged with servicing the refugee population. reports that over 200.000 Cubans have registered for assistance. It is estimated that twothirds of the people have been admitted to the United States on some form of parole status. The Cuban refugee program. with the help of the voluntary agencies. has been remarkably successful in moving over 110.000 of these refugees away from Miami to some 3.000 communities throughout the country. Many of these people are professionally trained or have skills which our country has in short supply. As an example. nearly 2.000 Cuban doctors have come to this country in the refugee influx. Many of these highly skilled persons have been with us for a period of 3 to 4 years. They cannot enter their chosen fields of work. with rare exceptions. due to their lack of permanent resident status. They just cannot qualify in the majority of States for the required licenses or certificates due to this lack of permanent immigration status. As a result of this situation one finds these trained people working as parking lot attendants. bus boys and in other menial services. Our country is the loser for we could well use these skills in our booming economy.