Clinton Caves on Cuba; but What Was Option? : 20,000 refugees OK, but no illegal entries in future, he vows

When it comes to Cuba, President Clinton is darned if he does and darned if he doesn’t. As long as Fidel Castro and his Communist rantings live on, this hostile neighbor remains an albatross for the United States.

The Administration’s breathtaking about-face, to allow in the 20,000 or so Cuban refugees camped at Guantanamo Bay, coupled with a precedent-shattering promise to return to Cuba absolutely any and all future Cuban boat people, appears to be a reasonable (if desperate) compromise.

Reasonable or not, allowing in any undocumented immigrants, even for this “one last time,” is sure to infuriate many Americans. But Clinton can’t let all those Cuban refugees reside forever at the Guantanamo naval base at a cost of $1 million a day, plus a projected $100 million for permanent housing. Financial burdens aren’t the only concern. Many of the Cuban refugees are young men with nothing to do. Might they turn violent? Clinton, a former governor of Arkansas, remembers all too well the bloody riot at Ft. Chaffee by Cuban prisoners after the 1980 boat lift.

And Clinton also knows full well the political clout of the Cuban American community in south Florida. On this latest immigration skirmish, Cuban Americans won the battle--their compatriots will be let in this time--but they may have lost the war. After decades of U.S. immigration policy that favored Cuban immigrants on the Cold War ground that they were fleeing our Communist enemy next door, the President has rightly said “no more.” Any Cuban refugees who take to the sea and arrive illegally in the United States will be returned. (Castro says that this time Cuba will take them back.)

The only way open to would-be immigrants will be the legal channels. But Clinton has made this vow before, only to break it. Broken promises breed cynicism, erode credibility and encourage the violation of laws. Clinton needs to make the new, tough policy stick.

Such a sea change in immigration policy is long overdue. Castro’s regime is toothless, his Russian patrons ruble-less, the Cold War history. The threat of dominoes falling into Red hands in this hemisphere is no longer credible. The preferential immigration policy spawned by those concerns is out of date. Cubans who want to immigrate here now must play by the same rules as any other foreigner. Immigration must be regulated to avoid chaos.

This new policy also ends a major hypocrisy: the unequal treatment of Haitian refugees, who also fled an oppressive regime. Congress provided no welcome mat for foreigners fleeing right-wing regimes, only for those fleeing Communism. This change in policy will put Haitians and Cubans on equal footing for the first time in decades. To be sure, barring other Cubans will anger some Cuban Americans. They won’t be satisfied with the admission of only those from the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay; they won’t give Clinton any credit in this about-face. However, the President had no wiser or better course.

Cuban Americans must accept the current political realities in their new homeland, and in their old homeland. Castro won’t live forever; the United States needs to begin a dialogue now. Closing the door to illegal Cuban immigrants is a good start. Now Havana has to start acting like a grown-up, too. It takes two to make an adult relationship.