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Wet-Foot Immigrant Policy Doesn't Float

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 30, 2007

Far more Cubans are making the risky crossing to the Florida Keys this year than the Coast Guard can hope to stop. They're also landing on other beaches and finding new routes here.

According to one estimate, 3,437 more Cubans made it here than during the previous 12 months - another record.

Interdictions at sea are at a 10-year high, but the lure of a certain welcome makes a mockery of attempts to safeguard our shores. Under the bizarre "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, those caught at sea are sent home while those who reach shore are invited to stay.

During an interview with the Tribune editorial board on Tuesday, Mitt Romney found himself unable to clearly explain how his open-border attitude toward Cuban migrants squares with his call for tighter border security for everyone else.

As for the Cubans, he said "the more the merrier."

The former governor of Massachusetts also said he wouldn't try to change current dry-foot policy, at least not without checking with Cuban-American leaders in Miami, including U.S. Reps. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Lincoln and Mario Diaz-Balart.

For too long this immigration policy has been controlled by a vocal minority in South Florida. They are right that Cubans deserve freedom but wrong that Florida can accommodate them all. A steady stream of refugees, some of whom die at sea in rickety rafts, is the human toll of this failed policy.

More and more Cubans are hiring speedboats to attempt the illegal crossing. This greatly complicates the task of patrolling for drug smugglers and possible terrorists.

The University of Miami's Institute for Cuban and Cuban-American Studies notes an increase in Cuban arrivals and reports, "... Quietly but increasingly evident, a new mass migration out of Castro's Cuba may be in progress."

Since 2000, a reported 191,000 Cubans have relocated to the United States.

Romney can't explain his position because, like U.S. policy, it is inconsistent. The United States needs to lock its back door, decide how many Cubans immigrants to accept each year, and stop rewarding any Cuban able to sink toes into Florida sand.

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