Speech #1000027036

Preference 5. a brother or sister of a U.S. citizen. Cubans in third countries cannot come to the United States if they left Cuba on or after August 22. 1986. and are not immediate relatives of Americans. It is difficult to tell exactly how many immigrants in Cuba would like to come to the United States. But the fact that we promised under the Mariel Agreement to take up to 20.000 a year is some indication. As for immigrants in third countries like Mexico. Venezuela. and Panama. there are no reliable statistics on how many Cubans living outside of Cuba seek to come to the United States. The practical effect of this policy is to deny thousands of Cubans living in Cuba the right to be reunited with their families in the United States because of actions by Castro over which they have no control. It means that the over age 21 sons or daughters of American citizens. the spouses or children of legal permanent residents. the married sons or daughters. or the brothers and sisters of U.S. citizens. if they live in Cuba. cannot come into the United States until Cuba makes good on its promise to take back the Mariels. It means that these people. if they live outside of Cuba. cannot immigrate unless they arrived in a third country before August 22. 1986. My bill would reverse this policy. and reinstitute normal immigration from Cuba and third countries regardless of the disposition of the Mariels now in the United States. For those Cubans now living in Cuba. allowing them to emigrate to the United States is a simple humanitarian gesture mandated by the terrible conditions of Cubas totalitarian society. That gesture becomes even more compelling when we realize that these people have family in the United States. Life in Cuba today is characterized by an aggressive. systematic. and institutionalized denial of human rights in virtually every form.