It’s time to change Cubans’ special immigration status

(Photo: Arnulfo Franco – AP)

As a new wave of Cuban migrants floods Florida and Central America, nine Latin American nations have asked the Obama administration to end the U.S. special immigration privileges for Cuban refugees. And while some of these countries have dubious human rights credentials, they may be partly right.

In an Aug. 29 letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, the foreign ministers of Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama and Peru expressed their “deep concern” that the United States’ so-called wet-foot, dry-foot policy is creating a regional refugee crisis.

Ecuador — which released the letter — and Nicaragua are ruled by repressive governments with little moral authority to lecture anybody about political or humanitarian issues.

But the letter should draw attention because it comes at a time when Cubans are fleeing the island in record numbers. The euphoria over the reestablishment of U.S.-Cuba diplomatic ties has faded, and many Cubans have lost faith that there will be a political opening on the island. Others are fleeing now because they fear that the U.S. special status for Cuban refugees will be terminated after the November elections.

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