Let's start with something light shall we?
Imagine if you had traveled with 100 of your relatives on a small boat for 22 days, and for the last 5 days you had no food, and when you finally reach your destination your Grandmother turns to you with tears in her eyes and says, "Honey, we have to go back." Your heart sinks, you can't understand why you need to turn around and travel this horrible journey again, because you were told when you left that you were going to a place where everything would be a lot better than it has been.
Well I can't say this was the exact seen when 101 Haitians arrived on the shore of South Florida, on Wednesday, but after having one man die , and 3 be in critical condition because of dehydration the situation is not one that any of us would want to have to endure. But the icing on the cake is the fact that unlike Cubans who are generally allowed to stay after they reach THE GREAT LAND OF THE FREE AND HOME OF THE BRAVE..most Haitians who reach the U.S. are sent back.
Now lets just say for the sake of argumen that the Haitins had stopped in Cuba, and traveled over with the Cubans who were illegal, would they have been able to stay then. I have nothing against the Cubans in any way, shape or form, but if both groups are illegals and only one gets sent back then arent we as the United States practicing discrimination?
There aren't many more reasons that I could come up with to try and understand why this is the situation that these migrants face...after traveling about 700 miles..there would be nothing that anyone could say that would be rationalize why I had to leave, but the group over there, they can stay...
Am I the only one that feels this way?
"I have nothing against the Cubans in any way, shape or form, but if both groups are illegals and only one gets sent back then arent we as the United States practicing discrimination?"
Not exactly, the reasons Cubans can stay started with the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 with a revision in 1995. Some people call it the "wet feet, dry feet" policy. Since Cuba is a socialist state which some people link to Communism, so we decided to help those who were afraid of being prosecuted could come here. After Fidel Castro took power afer the revolution the U.S became kind of "iffy" (if thats a word) with their relationship with Cuba esp, after they formed a relationship with the Soviet Union. We even tried to invade them b ut it didn't work out. Anyway, we let them stay here I think just so that they will be on "our side".
"...essentially, that anyone who fled Cuba and got into the United States would be allowed to pursue residency a year later. After talks with the Cuban government, the Clinton administration came to an agreement with Cuba that it would stop admitting people found at sea. Since then, in what has become known as the "wet feet, dry feet" policy, a Cuban caught on the waters between the two nations (i.e., with "wet feet") would summarily be sent home or to a third country. One who makes it to shore ("dry feet") gets a chance to remain in the United States, and later would qualify for expedited "legal permanent resident" status and U.S. citizenship." http://www.answers.com/topic/wet-feet-dry-feet-policy-1