June 9, 2006, - 2:19 pm
On Castro’s Death, Mariel Boatlift 2: Another Reason to Table Guest Worker Amnesty
By
**** UPDATE, 06/12/06: TO MY MANY CUBAN-AMERICAN FRIENDS & READERS: I’m very sorry if the comments by myself in this post or other posters offended you. I hope you will accept my apologies, as my post was never meant as an attack on Cuban Americans, whom I so deeply respect. I have always been a strong advocate of the Cuban people who sorely want freedom, but have been denied it by Fidel Castro and his Communist henchmen. I also have always been a strong advocate of the Cuban Americans who came here for the freedom and peace they do not have in Cuba. From Armando Valladares to Elian Gonzalez, to the recent (see also, ), I am with you. Cuban Americans are among the most patriotic, hard-working, loyal people I’ve encountered in our great country. They are the model of the desired legal immigrant.
If my post offended you, and if I am wrong about the number of criminals in the Mariel Boatlift in 1980, please forgive me and accept my apologies. It was not meant to attack Cubans, but to point out that the government is planning for this, and that if, indeed, Castro dies and there is mass immigration here from Cuba, law abiding immigrants or not, we are NOT equipped to handle it. That is the truth. I do not agree with any of the comments attacking Cuban Americans. My apologies for them.END UPDATE****
Behind the scenes, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Red Cross, and various other government agencies have been meeting with Miami and Florida agencies to prepare for an upcoming disaster.
But it’s not a natural disaster like Hurricane Katrina. It’s Fidel Castro’s death. He turns 80, this year, and the CIA believes he is dying of Parkinson’s Disease. Authorities fear that upon his death, a mass migration even greater than the 1980 Mariel Boatlift–which put 120,000 Cuban criminals on our shores–will occur. They’ve prepared a “Cuba Transition Project” report as a rough plan. Supposedly, there are other secret plans.
But are DHS and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) really ready for this? It’s hard to tell. Some important questions we ask:
* What will happen with laws granting automatic citizenship to Cubans once they have one foot on dry land in America?
* Is there an exception proscribing criminals?
* How will we determine who the criminals are and which are just innocent Cubans trying to escape Communist Cuba?
Clearly, we have a possible tidal wave of aliens on our hands that we need to prepare for, but how will we be able to handle it, if all of our agents are already too busy processing guest workers who’ve been here breaking our laws for years?
Tags: America, Armando Valladares, busy processing guest workers, Central Intelligence Agency, Cuba, Debbie Schlussel, Department of Homeland Security, Fidel Castro, Florida, law abiding immigrants, Mariel Boatlift, Miami, Parkinson's disease, Red Cross, United States
Thanks Debbie for giving me more to fret about this weekend. Shabbat Shalom!
Yiddish Steel on June 9, 2006 at 4:14 pm