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Obama ending ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ policy
01-12-2017, 07:14 PM
Game Changer! All the rednecks in Ft Lauderdale and all parts North Florida are rejoicing! Make South Florida America Again!!! Make Miami Great Again!!! MMGA!!! English is back in South Florida!
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Obama ending ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ policy
01-12-2017, 07:46 PM
On twitter it's being said that the reason for this is because Cubans voted 53% for Trump.
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Obama ending ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ policy
01-12-2017, 07:47 PM
Why do we need more Cubans in our country?
Why can't they stay in Cuba and make Cuba great again?
Wasn't the whole point of this policy an anti-Castro member, and Castro is dead now.
Why do we need it?
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Obama ending ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ policy
01-12-2017, 08:31 PM
But does it mean that all illegal migrants from Cuba (coming by sea or land, doesn't matter anymore) will be turned away and sent back right away, or, contrarily, that all of them will have the right to submit a "refugee" demand and meanwhile, stay in the US?
I mean, it would make sense for Obama to disrupt and burden Florida, by enabling Cubans (coming by boat) to actually ask for asylum and as such, remain in the US while their file, data, and demands are processed by (leftist) judges...
I know that MSM present this last-moment Obama move as "bad-news" for Cuban migrants, but, I might interpret it differently: if Cubans coming by sea are "to be treated like all migrants", doesn't this mean that they will be processed on the US soil, until a (backlogged) tribunal approves or denies their asylum demand?
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Obama ending ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ policy
01-12-2017, 11:09 PM
Quote: (01-12-2017 07:06 PM)JayMillz Wrote:
In a statement issued by the White House, Obama said that, effective immediately, Cuban migrants will now be treated “the same way we treat migrants from other countries.”
So, they'll be given in state college tuition, sanctuary cities and other federal benefits like so many illegal immigrants along the Mexican border? Sounds about right.
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Obama ending ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ policy
01-12-2017, 11:51 PM
Its actually a somewhat perplexing move by Obama. I'm still really unsure as to whether this is a good move or a bad move and to be quite frank it seems to me a political move where he appeases all the non Cubans in the US while pissing off the Cuban people.
In terms of tourism numbers the actual numbers of American tourists are still a drop in the bucket...By that I mean non-Cuban Americans. One thing that has certainly occurred is increasing investment in local businesses by Cuban Americans abroad particularly in the rental and food industries. The problem is the tourism numbers aren't growing remotely in line with the rental and food industries. The money is spreading wider and more Cubans are obtaining reasonable incomes via businesses rather than the few guys on top making a killing. This probably occurred in my opinion due both in part to the rapproach but also due to the lessening of restrictions on private enterprises amongst the Cuban people.
Having seen first hand the lack of change in Cuba tourism as a result of all his negotiating with Cuba. I.e. US tourism is still very low despite all the flights given to them. They are effectively a drop in the bucket when we are talking non Cuban Americans.
I was in Holguin about 5 weeks last year. I met one American and that was when I was in the hotels. I never met an American while I was in the city. My long term girlfriends friend works as what is essentially the equivalent to an escort here...like here there are variances in cost based on locational and appearance factors. I asked her about American tourism as she is in direct conversation with tourists on a daily basis from all over. Her words were that there are almost none in Holguin.
Havana is a people to people location so the raw numbers certainly increased there but Cuba has two tourisms. The first tourism is the people who stay in the hotels and go the mickey mouse route. That is probably upwards of 95% of non Cuban American tourism. The other 5% are people who are outside of hotels staying in Casa particulars, enjoying and taking in the local culture.
Lets say tourism went up 500k in the last year from 4 million to 4.5 million which seems a reasonable estimate. That means the people actually in the cities putting money in Cuban people outside of the cookie cutter hotel locations might have gone from 200,000 to 225,000. Honestly I go out rather regularly when I'm there and I'd have guessed tourism went down rather than up within the city. The difference that Obama's policy is making in the lives of ordinary Cubans not those privileged enough to work in the tourism industry is quite frankly negligible.
Just last year there were talks of booms of 5 million + American tourists going per year, what happened is far from that. The American and foreign tourists who go for history and go see Havana are going there once and crossing it off the bucket list.
I'm not sure really how Trump will play this because he knows what Obama did will probably appease a lot of latin voters while upsetting many Cuban voters. It's a bit risky in terms of alienating other latin voters if he retracts it and basically says Cubans still have priority. But if he doesn't do it he may be seen as retracting on his campaign promises to the Cuban Americans who helped elect him. If I'm Trump I don't touch it but go after the travel restrictions lifting / renegotiate for some modest concessions if possible and call it a day.
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Obama ending ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ policy
01-13-2017, 12:23 AM
I was shocked when I checked the news and saw Obama was doing this.
Make no mistake: this is a fantastic development for our side. Not all Cubans are created equal. The original, Republican leaning wave of Cubans are a bit analogous to white South Africans: a well off white minority in an otherwise "diverse" nation that was targeted by the ruling regime and dispossessed of its land and property. This is why they fled Cuba in the first place and why they hated the communist regime and all leftist political parties and movements.
The more recent waves of Cubans are far more "diverse" and are no different from any other third world economic migrants beating their way to American and European shores. They have no ideology and join the coalition of the fringes upon arrival along with all the other minorities. Again, they could be compared to black South African migrants arriving in America.
A truly terrifying spectre that raised its ugly head upon the death of Fidel Castro was the possibility that travel restrictions between Cuba and the USA would be lifted while the "wet food, dry foot" policy was kept in place. What this would have meant is that every Cuban who so desired would have been able to travel to the United States via aeroplane and claim legal residency and a direct pathway to citizenship upon setting foot on US soil, just like that.
This, of course, would have been an unmitigated disaster for our demographic balance on a national level, let alone concentrated in Florida, which is a state whose electoral votes we can ill afford to lose and expect to ever win the presidency again.
As to why Obama did the downright sane thing and ended the policy to reflect the easing of travel restrictions is a true mystery to me. It may well be the only beneficial action he took in his 8 years in office aside from the auto industry bailout.
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Obama ending ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ policy
01-13-2017, 01:11 AM
I'd prefer it if he had instead ended the same yet unofficial policy for Somalis.
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Obama ending ‘wet-foot, dry-foot’ policy
01-13-2017, 04:06 PM
Cuba will be great again but it will be the descendants of the Cubans who fled during and right after Castros takeover living in the US that will make it so. Unlike subsequent migrations (like the 1980 Mariel boatlift when Castro shit on the US and pissed in Jimmy Carter's face) that first wave (like my parents) were the highly educated, highly motivated, wealthy, elite land owners who were the most at risk during the political purges that ensued...and lost the most because of it.
My ancestors (both maternal and paternal) emigrated to Cuba from Spain in the 19th Century when it was pretty much to Spain like the American west was to the US. My mothers family owned a lot of land including an approximate 3 mi of beachfront on the northern shore in Pinar del Rio province. My grandfather exported sugar, beef, pork tobacco and even minerals from a mine he owned. I was born in Miami and grew up hearing all the stories. Castro destroyed what Cuba could have become for my parents' generation...but thats not been forgotten
But don't underestimate the old school Cubans (and descendants) who've been building wealth and power in FL, Spain, Puerto Rico, etc.... biding their time...
There's a number reasons FL went to Trump not the least of which is the very conservative old school Cuban power base there.
This policy change in my opinion is a good step. The current Cuban population is so indoctrinated in the only (fucked up) system they've ever known so they don't have the skill set necessary to "right the ship" when the time comes (and it will come). So good......America is on it's way to being great again,... then it will be Cuba's turn... But it wont be powered by Cubans staying put as much as it will be the when money, talent, and values start flowing back there. Cuba was great and will be again. It's just a matter of time
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