Cuban Preference or Haitian Discrimination?
Birdsong teaches a course in immigration law at the Barry law School and will teach the first seminar course offered at Barry in the fall concerning refugee law. Over the years he has researched and written on refugee topics. Birdsong also, oversees, directed research papers by students interested in immigration and refugee law. From time to time Birdsong will, with the students’ permission, post here outstanding student papers on refugee and asylum law that a wider audience may wish to read.
Although Birdsong did not personally oversee the following paper, he was asked to read it and certify that it met the requirements of Barry’s Upper Level Writing Requirement. The paper certainly meets all the requirements. The paper by Rafael Rodriguezdoes an excellent job of recounting and comparing the history of Cuban and Haitian asylum policies in the United States over the last fifty years.
Read and learn:
Cuban Preference or Haitian discrimination: In the realm of Asylum and Refugee law- Which will Stand the Test of Time?
By: Rafael Rodriguez
Abstract:
Since the fall of Batista at the hands of Fidel Castro, the United States has taken a hard line against this island nation of Cuba by setting ‘the Embargo.’ Fleeing from a communist nation, Cuban refugees have often times received preferred status as applicants for asylum, as opposed to other refugee applicants including those from a similar island nation in the Caribbean; Haiti. Whereas Cubans received this preferred status among similar refugees, Haitians were treated with biased discriminatory actions by the United States – often in direct violation of treaties and Federal Statutes. The preferred status of Cubans will continue to last so long as the embargo is in place and the current administration takes a hard line against the persistent human rights abuses on the island. In the future however, with a new administration in the White House and new leadership in Cuba, the embargo may eventually be lifted, and this preferred status (including wet foot/dry foot policy) will no longer be necessary. At that time, the United States should make a concerted effort to treat all refugees as equal, regardless of race and nationality. The current double standard as applied to Haitians must end as soon as possible. The United States as a hegemonic power denounces the human rights violations of the rest of the world, and yet hypocritically continues to deny bona fide refugees the ability to apply for asylum. Pressure from the rest of the world will eventually force the United States to keep their side of the treaties they sign.
History of U.S./Cuban Relations
The United States has always taken a keen interest in Cuba; the ‘pearl of the Caribbean.’ Prior to Cuban Independence, “. . . the Caribbean Basin remained a focal point for U.S. policy. The United States was always eager to
