90 Miles From Tyranny : Will Cuba's lifting of exit visas mark a new migration surge to Miami?

infinite scrolling

Monday, November 26, 2012

Will Cuba's lifting of exit visas mark a new migration surge to Miami?

Last October Cuba announced that on January 14, 2013 they will lift the exit visa requirement.  Cubans will be able to depart for vacations, or forever, with only a passport and a visa from the country where they plan to go. Along with the wet foot dry foot policy in the U.S. which states that if a Cuban touches dry American land, they get a chance to remain in the United States, and later would qualify for expedited "legal permanent resident" status and, eventually, U.S. citizenship.

Will there be a rush of Cubans coming to South Florida to take advantage of this loophole or will the U.S. government rush to close this loophole? 

File:Cuba-Florida map.jpgCubans tend to be staunch anti-communists and the first generation votes republican, a large migration could potentially change the political landscape in Florida, once again giving republicans the edge.

Miami is already a city with both a very wealthy population and a very poor immigrant population, the education levels, literacy and poverty rates put parts of Miami on the same level as the third world. While the immigrants may have education, it is likely that English reading and writing was not part of that education.

The Mariel boat lift was a mass emigration of Cubans who departed from Cuba's Mariel Harbor for the United States between April 15 and October 31, 1980. Fidel Castro pulled a fast one on Jimmy Carter by releasing all his criminal and mentally ill population along with some political types and Cuban spies.  Some 125,000 Cubans immigrated to the U.S. and half stayed in Miami, which dramatically changed Miami.

File:Mariel Refugees.jpg
Will we have another mass immigration to Miami?  The labor market in Miami is not very good at the moment and South Florida would struggle with the potential mass immigration.  It seems the wet foot dry foot policy needs to be changed to reflect the changing political landscape.

No comments: