New wave of Cuban immigrants reaches U.S., but through Texas, not Florida

New wave of Cuban immigrants reaches U.S., but through Texas, not Florida
Posted: Sunday, December 6, 2015 3:00 am
By Molly Hennessy-Fiske Los Angeles Times

HOUSTON —When Jordanis Perez fled Havana in the spring for the United
States, he decided his best chances weren't by boat to Florida, but by a
route increasingly favored by thousands of Cuban migrants: by land to Texas.

The number of Cubans arriving at the southern border increased this year
after President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced
they would normalize diplomatic relations, which many Cubans fear could
mean the end of the special status that allows them to stay and work
here legally if they reach U.S. soil.

"It's going to change," Perez, 31, said of the U.S. law as he sat
waiting for help with a dozen other Cuban immigrants at Catholic
Charities in Houston, shivering in donated sweatshirts, unaccustomed to
the cold.

At least 44,000 Cubans reached the southern U.S. border during the
fiscal year that ended in September, according to Rep. Henry Cuellar, a
south Texas Democrat.

That's more than double the 17,466 Cubans who arrived at the border the
previous fiscal year, most through the Laredo area Cuellar represents,
according to the Pew Research Center. U.S. Customs and Border Protection
refused to release current figures.

More than 18,000 Cubans crossed into the Laredo area last fiscal year,
66 percent more than in the previous fiscal year, according to the Pew
analysis of government data. But they are also showing up at crossings
in Arizona and California, said Shawn Moran, San Diego-based vice
president of the union that represents Border Patrol agents.

Perez headed to Texas after struggling to support his 8-year-old son
with a small market. The trip cost him about $4,000 — less than the
$7,000 he would have paid for the three-hour boat ride to Florida, but a
journey fraught with different risks.

"Lots of people die," said Rodnaisy Cherilson, 38, a doctor sitting near
Perez. She survived a kidnapping in Colombia to reach the U.S. "We
prefer to improve our lives and risk it. We arrived by the grace of God."

At least 27,296 Cubans entered U.S. ports of entry during the first nine
months of the fiscal year that ended in September — a 78 percent
increase over the comparable period the previous year, when 15,341
Cubans entered, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data
analyzed by the Pew Research Center.

Two-thirds, or 18,397, came through the Laredo Sector in Texas, a 66
percent increase from the comparable period the previous fiscal year.

Perez headed to Texas after struggling to support his 8-year-old son
with a small market, and the trip cost him about $4,000 — less than the
$7,000 he would have paid for the three-hour boat ride to Florida, but a
journey fraught with different risks.

"Lots of people die," said Rodnaisy Cherilson, 38, a doctor sitting near
Perez. She survived a kidnapping in Colombia to reach the U.S. "We
prefer to improve our lives and risk it. We arrived by the grace of God."

Though Texas has become a destination of choice, the number of Cubans
caught trying to reach the U.S. by sea also increased last fiscal year
to 2,927, up 39 percent from the previous fiscal year — and nearly seven
times as many as 2010, according to U.S. Coast Guard records.

"The numbers have definitely increased pretty sharply in the past couple
of years, especially since normalized relations have been announced. I
don't know if we've hit the top of that," said Marc Rosenblum, deputy
director of the U.S. Immigration Policy Program at the Washington-based
Migration Policy Institute.

Previous Cuban migration to the U.S. came in three major waves: in the
early 1960s, after the revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power; in
1980, when Castro released prisoners in what was known as the Mariel
boatlift; and a 1994 exodus that resulted in the "wet foot, dry foot"
policy now in effect.

The policy, negotiated under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, allows
Cubans who reach U.S. shores — or borders — to apply for entry, while
those caught at sea are turned away. Once here, Cuban migrants are
"paroled," or allowed to stay legally, to apply for work permits and
green cards.

But with many of the so-called "dusty foot" Cuban migrants fleeing Cuba
for economic, rather than political, reasons, some members of Congress
said they wanted to do away with the policy.

"If President Obama has normalized relations with Cuba, why would we
treat illegal immigrants from that nation any different than those from
other countries?" said Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., who proposed
legislation last month to repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act.

Cuellar agreed.

"The Cuban policy should be changed," he said. "If we do that for them,
why not do it for the Central Americans, the Mexicans, and for everyone
else?"

Dan Stein, president of the conservative Washington-based nonprofit
Federation for American Immigration Reform, praised Gosar's proposal,
dismissing the law as an "outdated relic of the Cold War."

But Cuban American members of Congress, led by Sen. Marco Rubio of
Florida, a Republican presidential candidate, have argued that the act
needs to be updated, not repealed.

Secretary of State John F. Kerry said the administration had "no plans
whatsoever" to change the law when he visited Havana in the summer to
reopen the U.S. Embassy. Such comments haven't slowed the flow into Texas.

The migration is enabled by smartphones and social media, which allow
Cuban migrants to navigate without relying on smugglers.

Before taxi driver Ali Despaigne left Havana last month in search of
work to support his 7-year-old daughter, he bought an $80 smartphone.

"We use them to communicate with people in the U.S. who can orient and
help us," Despaigne, 40, said as he sat with Perez after arriving Nov. 2.

In Cuba, the migrants obtain exit visas to fly to South America, usually
Ecuador, and then head north, said Juan Lopez, who runs the Miami-based
Cuban/Haitian Entrants program for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.

"From Ecuador, the most dangerous trip starts through Colombia, Central
America and up to Texas," he said. "I've heard cases where it has taken
them months to get to the border from Ecuador, but I guess they're
willing to do that and not risk their lives at sea."

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez visited Ecuador and Nicaragua
recently to address a mounting migrant crisis. That same week, more than
2,000 Cuban migrants became trapped Costa Rica after a smuggling ring
was uncovered and Nicaraguan authorities refused to let them pass into
Nicaragua.

For Perez, who left his family in Cuba, the journey took seven months,
ending in Texas on Oct. 29. He worked as he traveled, sending $50 back
to his family from Panama.

Migrants are vulnerable to thieves, as well as police, who know Cubans
are easy pickings for bribes, Cherilson said.

"They call Cubans ATMs because every time, they get money," she said.

In Colombia, she and a friend were kidnapped and had to pay $500 ransom
each. Portions of the trip still require boats, and during one stretch
through shark-infested waters between Colombia and Panama, a baby fell
in, a father dove in after her, and both were lost. The baby's mother
later hanged herself in despair, Cherilson said.

Cherilson made the trip with a male friend after failing to reach the
U.S. by boat in December. She wanted to leave the city of Camaguey,
Cuba's third-largest, to earn more money (she made about $20 a month),
but also for more freedom.

"We work like slaves for very little money," she said after arriving in
Houston. "It's a question of rights, of wanting more."

Christopher Galeano, a University of California, Irvine, student who
worked at migrant shelters in southern Mexico last summer, said Cubans
stood out in part because they were eligible for a legal permit, called
an oficio de salida, that allowed them to stay in Mexico up to a month.
They could avoid smugglers and travel by bus.

"They were not hard to miss if you see them in migrant shelters. The
Central Americans would ask, 'Why are the Cubans able to apply for the
oficio de salida? What's different about them?'" Galeano said.

But Cuban migrants were still vulnerable to extortion, he said. Some
officials forced a group to pay up to $5,000 for their permits, which
are supposed to be free, and by the time the government investigated the
migrants had left, Galeano said.

In Texas, the arrival of more Cubans has strained aid agencies already
coping with an influx of Central American children and families.

Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston had served
1,176 Cuban migrants as of the end of October, up from 726 last year,
according to Wafa Abdin, vice president for immigration legal services
and refugee resettlement.

"We don't have funding for them and we don't know who's coming, so here
they are standing at our doors in big numbers, and we're trying to help
them find housing," Abdin said.

Unlike Cuban migrants in Miami, those in Texas lack family or friends
nearby to meet their immediate needs, help them find jobs, communicate
and enroll in English classes. Cuban communities in Texas are small: Of
the roughly 1 million foreign-born Cubans in the U.S., only about 11,000
live in the Houston area, according to a Migration Policy Institute
analysis of 2013 U.S. census data.

"We can help them apply for a work permit, but in the meantime, they
need help," Abdin said.

Source: New wave of Cuban immigrants reaches U.S., but through Texas,
not Florida - MRT.com: Top Stories -
http://www.mrt.com/news/top_stories/article_42ae2674-9ad9-11e5-874d-abe5720ea07d.html