For the first time in almost a decade, the United States and Cuba advanced a step forward on the mutually contentious issue of immigration. After months of intense negotiations, Washington has persuaded Havana to take back another 1,500 excludable “Mariel felons.” All are serious criminals.
They will be added to an original list of 2,746 excludables whose repatriation Cuba had previously accepted. This extended deal is entirely consistent with U.S. immigration laws, will alleviate taxpayers’ burden, and makes no discernible concessions to the Castro regime.
According to the Department of Justice, Cuba vowed to accept 50 detainees a month until a total of 4,246 are repatriated. They are all aliens who have committed serious crimes. They’ve been ordered excluded by an immigration judge after a long, and fair, legal process. And they’ve been determined to be a danger to the community.
U.S. immigration laws are sharp and clear about aliens who meet the above criteria: If their country of origin accepts their repatriation, they must be deported. Understandably, these detainees elicit compassion among many in this and other communities in the country. But the law has reasonably determined that they are a menace to any U.S. community.
The extension of the U.S.-Cuba immigration agreement does not necessarily affect any other Cuban detainees. It involves only Mariel felons who’ve committed grave crimes. Alien criminals from any other country would have been deported long before now. These criminals’ deportation is as deserved as it has been delayed.
