Michael Kopetski: “Mr. Speaker, I visited refugee camps in Hong Kong, Thailand, India, and Turkey, and I heard the horror stories that…”

“Mr. Speaker, I visited refugee camps in Hong Kong, Thailand, India, and Turkey, and I heard the horror stories that people endured and learned how difficult it is to gain political asylum in the United States. However, an exception to our immigration policy allows one group of people to come to this country no questions asked. If they stay here a year, they gain permanent-residency status. This exception is made not on the basis of political oppression, poverty, warfare, or to reunite families. Under this exception in 1991-92 more people were given permanent status in the United States than were accepted from Cambodia, El Salvador, Romania, Somalia, Haiti, and the former Yugoslavia combined. The reason over 10,000 people were given permanent status in the United States was that they were born in Cuba. The Cuban Adjustment Act is indefensible and should be repealed, and that is why today I am introducing legislation to repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act so Cubans will be treated just as every other political asylum seeker in the world is treated.”