Cubans land on military grounds in Fla.

[deadparrot]

KEY WEST, Fla. - Nineteen Cubans came ashore on the Naval Air Station Key West commander's backyard, officials said.

The 12 men, five women and two children were discovered Wednesday morning by an off-duty Defense Department officer jogging on military property, Key West police said. The officer knocked on Capt. J.R. Brown's front door, alerting him to the group and asking to use his phone to call authorities.

The group arrived in what appeared to be a homemade boat, police said.

Brown asked a Spanish-speaking neighbor to meet with the Cubans, who appeared fine, he said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070125/ap_on_re_us/cuban_migrants

[saigon68]

1. Welcome to amerika

[BayCityProgressive]

2. I'd float over here

to..to get all the free goodies the US government gives them. they still get to keep their socialism when they get here...too bad the rest of us don't. Pisses me the fuck off. Stick them on the boat and send them right back.

[Judi Lynn]

3. A lot of people are unaware they are offered benefits which have NEVER been offered to any other

immigrant group from anywhere, and are NOT offered, nor ever have been to Native American citizens, struggling day by day on reservations right here in our own country.

It's a dirty political trick to attract those Cubans who feel up to the challenge to leave their own country and arrive here, side-stepping altogether any kind of tie-ups with border patrol once they arrive on dry land, the way many of them do, who come with smugglers, instead of waiting for the U.S. Interests Section to approve or reject their visa applications, and make the trip in a normal way.

They ALL are offered free instant legal status, (no running from federal agents), work visa, social security, food stamps, immediate access to U.S. taxpayer-financed Section 8 housing, medical treatment, financial assistance for education, and much more.

Can anyone begin to imagine how many people we'd have here now from all over Latin America and the Caribbean if these same benefits were offered to them, and they would not be deported when they were discovered?

Do not forget the hundreds of other immigrants who perish each year trying to make the over 700 mile trip from Haiti by water, or die by the hundreds ANNUALLY in the attempt to get across the border between Mexico and the U.S. from California to Texas.

It's an underhanded trick by loons on Congress to lure these people here, plain and simple. It creates a picture the slow witted among us buy without ever questioning. Great for propaganda.

[ntesla]

5. Can you help me understand?

Why do they favor Republicans soo much?

[Judi Lynn]

6. Who? Please clarify. n/t

[ntesla]

9. Majority of Cubans

They tend to lean towards the right. Based on my personal experience, and others' observations. Even a school textbook described it but lacked historical details.

[Judi Lynn]

10. I can't help you with their reasoning. Not a Cuban "exile."

It appears Republicans have chased their support harder than Democrats, and have allied themselves with the radical reactionary first wave of "exiles" who controlled Miami because they have always sought total control of ALL Latin America and the Caribbean. They see control as their right, apparently, and "all your countries are belong to us."

The belief in violence, disdain and hatred of diplomacy, and exaggerated sense of entitlement seems to be a common element in the bond between the first wave of "exiles" and the right-wing Republicans.

[UTUSN]

16. Not "a majority of Cubans"

The "first wave" of exiles were wingnuts. The deposed BATISTA was wingnut. Once CASTRO turned overtly to Communism, it was natural for the anti-Communist extremists HERE to recruit and join forces with the most wingnut of the exiles. The succeeding generations HERE are not so wingnut, sort of settling along the lines of other Hispanics.

In any country, there is a spectrum of Left to Right, or is it a CIRCLE with the extreme ends turn into each other? It can be ideological (Communist to Fascist), economic (poor to rich), and/or cultural/religious (licentious to totally restrictive). The Cuban Exiles who were wingnuts over THERE would naturally fit in with CHEENEE-ites HERE. So would the oligarchical types anywhere else, like in Mexico.

[Freddie Stubbs]

8. What other country prohibits those leaving from bringing property?

:shrug:

[Judi Lynn]

14. Homes? Barbeque grills? Horses? What? Can you provide any links

which explain what you're trying to say?

I've heard the first ones to "flee" Cuba were people who knew they'd be in trouble with the Cuban people due to their participation in DEATH SQUADS, torture, etc., and they probably ran off as fast as they could.

Batista and his associates took the contents of the Cuban National Treasury with them.

Just post some information on that "property" charge you've mentioned.

Here's the information on not being able to get your social security checks in countries the U.S. doesn't like, in case you ever wondered if the U.S. won't let you take your social security checks with you:

U.S. Treasury Regulations
U.S. Treasury Department regulations prohibit sending payments to you if you are in Cuba or North Korea. If you are a U.S. citizen and are in Cuba or North Korea, you can receive all of your payments that were withheld once you leave that country and go to another country where we can send payments. Generally, if you are not a U.S. citizen, you cannot receive any payments for months in which you live in one of these countries, even though you leave that country and satisfy all other requirements.

Social Security restrictions
Social Security restrictions prohibit sending payments to individuals in Cambodia, Vietnam or areas that were in the former Soviet Union (other than Armenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia). Generally, you cannot receive payments while you are in one of these countries, and we cannot send your payments to anyone for you. However, exceptions can be made for certain eligible beneficiaries in countries other than Cuba or North Korea.
(snip/...)

~~~~ link ~~~~

[ngant17]

13. it's based on economics and not politics

no one in Cuba is being victimized by death squads.

Arriving as a Cuban emigre allows one to send money back to family in Cuba, so that their family can live a little better than before.

I suspect that many Cubans will eventually decide to return back to the island once the fantasy of America's glitter and gold washes out and turns into so much progaganda. They will not lose any benefits in Cuba by returning, after a short period of re-adjustment.

[LanternWaste]

7. imaginary red and blue lines

Because imaginary red and blue lines on a map are so much more important than humans...

:sarcasm:

[Strelnikov_]

4. Yep. Dry Foot. They're In n/t

[0rganism]

11. not only that, since they landed on military ground, they get officers' commisions!

;)

[Judi Lynn]

12. Just like the mad bomber/mass muderer, Luis Posada Carriles. Hot damn.

[Mika]

15. And who knows what their backgrounds could be?

They all could have applied for one of the 20,000+ immigration visas the US offers to Cubans.

Oh, wait.. they could have failed the criminal background check the US Interests Section performs in Cuba.... But the US 'Wet Foot/Dry Foot' policy allows any and all Cubans to be parolled onto the streets within hours no matter what their criminal background might be, and even if they have failed the criminal background check by the US Interests Section in Havana.