Once again the pendulum swings, and so does Mr. Clinton’s foreign policy. Every day hundreds of people arrive in the U.S. requesting asylum. They are not turned away; they are sent out into our cities with work permits until they can be given a formal hearing.
Cuban refugees were always given asylum because they were known political, not economic, refugees. Now things are even worse in Cuba, and they are both, yet they are to be returned without a hearing. Now in order to enter the U.S., Cubans must apply in Cuba for an entry visa.
Why is it that when the United States doesn’t know how to solve a problem, it wraps things up in miles of red tape? Just picture those rafters being handed visa applications as they are returned to a world of repression and hopelessness.
Does Mr. Clinton really believe those people can casually line up outside the American Interest Section in Havana without risks? Castro is promising that the returnees will not face reprisals. But what good is Castro’s word? Even Clinton’s State Department acknowledges that dissidents are victims of reprisals in Castro’s Cuba.
It seems Mr. Clinton, like the ostrich, wishes to bury his head in the sand. If you ignore the problem, maybe it will go away.
