Cuban Immigrants

* Re “A Moldy Cuba-Immigrant Policy” (editorial, Sept. 22), concerning Cuban versus Mexican immigration: Yes, the legal yearly limit accepted by the U.S. from Cuba is 20,000 people. However, this contrasts with 130,000 legally allowed to emigrate from Mexico last year alone. Yearly legal quotas apply to all countries, not just Cuba.

Regarding illegal immigration from both countries, it is far easier to cross the Rio Grande than the Florida Straits. Thus, the occasional Cuban rafter does not compound the problems of America’s overcrowded schools, highways, etc., as do the millions of illegal immigrants from Mexico and Central America.

The two migrations are vastly different. One is political, the other economic. When a person can literally be thrown in jail for listening to the wrong radio station (i.e., Radio Marti), the degree of desperation and risk involved in fleeing Cuba is far greater than that of illegal immigrants from other countries. I know. I was one of them.

MARCIA GONZALES

Calabasas