By Greg Gourley, Director , New
Americans of Washington
The Cuban-American lobby since the early 60's has effectively captured the
political support of the American public. If Americans believe what the Cuban
lobby says about life in Cuba, then the only Cubans escaping Castro to the
United States are arriving in small, leaky boats and inner tubes, i.e. Elian
Gonzales. That, however, is not the case.
The truth is that the vast majority of Cubans who leave Cuba for a new life in
the USA do so without getting wet or risking their lives at sea. They fly from
Havana to Miami daily on scheduled flights and
arrive legally in the United States. They are part of a large but quiet exodus
from Cuba that grants at least 20,000 US visas to Cubans each year, far more
than those who arrive illegally.
The image of Cuban refugees fleeing Castro's Cuba in broken down boats and
diving off rafts to swim to Florida shores is common, but not an honest picture.
It is savvy hype and a good Reader's Digest story used often by Cuban-American
leaders to rally support in Congress and throughout America for the continuation
of America's 40-year economic embargo of Fidel's Cuba.
In the past five years, according to federal statistics, more than 9,800 Cubans
entered the US without visas. They came across the Florida Straits and through
Mexico. During the same period, more than 47,560 were granted visas. However,
these are not the Cubans that Miami exile leaders talk so passionately about or
want the America people to know. Instead exile leaders prefer to focs public
attention on those Cubans arrested for illegal entry, political asylees and
Elian Gonzalez. Those Cubans entering quietly and legally migrate because of an
agreement signed between the United States and Cuba on September 9, 1994 that
allows 20,000 people annually to leave the island for permanent residence in
America. They can return to Cuba for family visits and vacations and are
encouraged to spend dollars. Once in the USA they receive "green
cards",assistance in finding work, their children can attend public school and
after five years or sooner they're eligible to apply for American citizenship.
Desperate to stop a high number of Cubans
from leaving the island and to prevent the reoccurrence of another "Mariel
boatlift" that haunted Jimmy Carter, the Clinton administration in September
1994 made the highly unusual move of entering into an immigration agreement with
Fidel Castro's government. The Cuban government calls the agreement the
"Special Cuban Migration Program."
An addendum was added to the agreement in 1995 specifying that Cubans
intercepted at sea by the U. S. Coast Guard, with a few exceptions, would be
returned to Cuba. The United States also pledged to stop admitting "all Cuban
migrants who reach U.S. territory in irregular ways." Cuba promised to patrol
its shores and waters to discourage departures, and to take no reprisals against
those brought back to Cuba.
The Cuban government agreed to stem the flow of refugees and the United States
agreed to provide 20,000 visas annually for Cubans wanting to migrate to the USA
with Cuba facilitating their departure. Those "illegal rafters" who make it to
the United States can, in most cases, stay and file for refugee or asylee status
with the USINS.
About 5,000 of the 20,000 Cuban visas are available through a special lottery
drawing conducted by U. S. officials in Havana. There is no fixed schedule as
to when the lottery is held, and since 1995 only three drawings have been
conducted. It was set up to give some hope to Cubans who saw little prospect of
being admitted to the USA under normal immigration procedures.
It is indisputable that many Cubans want to leave Cuba. In the first Cuban
lottery in November 1994, 189,000 people submitted entries for 5,000 possible
positions. The number soared to 436,000 in March 1996 more than twice the number
before. Together, that represents about a fifth of Cuba's work force. In l998,
more than 500,000 of the island's 11 million people mailed entry letters to the
US Interests Section in Havana. That's 5 percent of the country.
The annual Cuban lottery is administered in similar fashion to another annual
worldwide immigration lottery sponsored by Uncle Sam: the U.S. Diversity Visa
Program ("green card" lottery). The "green card" lottery established by Congress
in 1990 and signed by President Bush provides up to 55,000 immigrant visas. It
is administered by the National Visa Center and attracts over 11 million entries
each year. Cubans can enter the "green card" lottery, too.
Entrants in the "green card" lottery must have been born in an eligible country
and have a high school education. Applicants in the Cuban lottery must be
between 18 and 55, have a high school education and have worked in the past two
years. (There is no upper age limit on the "green card" lottery.) Selected
persons who pass their immigration visa interview can take their spouse and any
children under 21 with them to the USA.
Those selected in the Cuban lottery are screened and interviewed by the US Cuban
Interests Section in Havana, must provide the results of a medical examination,
any criminal history records, and evidence that once in the United States they
will not become a "public burden."
In 1998 only six countries sent more legal immigrants to the United States than
Cuba: Mexico 131,575; China 36,884; India 36,482; Philippines 34, 466;
Dominican Republic 20,387; Vietnam 17,469; Cuba 17,375. These are the
figures the American public never heard from the "talking heads" on television
or read in the media during contentious debates about Elian Gonzalez.
Despite all the polemics and rhetoric coming from Miami's Little Havana about
the hardships Cubans have in coming to America, the United States does have an
orderly process for people to migrate from Cuba to the United States. Elian
Gonzalez can apply when he is 18. However, there are some people who prefer to
keep the program quiet. It doesn't fit their agenda. Life and death drama on the
ocean is a more appealing story for the anti-Castro groups. Exile leaders
downplay the visa program because it points to the plausibility of normalized US
Cuba relations. That is the last thing anti-Castro groups want to see.
Greg Gourley is a native of the Pacific Northwest, having been born and raised in Oregon. He received his Bachelor of Arts in American History from Willamette University in Salem, Oregon, and went on to attend the University of Arkansas, where he received his Masters in International Relations.Gourley is a registered immigration assistant with the State of Washington and the founder of New Americans of Washington, an immigration and naturalization assistance organization. Working directly with the Seattle office of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, he has been responsible for the organization of some of the largest naturalization ceremonies of new American citizens in the Seattle area. His achievements have been televised nationally on Good Morning America and published in numerous newspapers, magazines and books. In 1996 he testified before the U. S. Commission on Immigration Reform chaired by the late Barbara Jordan as an expert on citizenship education programs.