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Cuban-Americans Urged to Reject Travel Restriction on Cuba |
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Miércoles, 30 de Mayo de 2012 07:55
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 A columnista in South Florida urged Cuban-Americans to reject a new bill that would restrict travel between the United States and Cuba.
The House of Representatives will examine on May 31 an amendment that denies Cuban residents that are not US citizens the opportunity to travel to Cuba, according to South Florida-based Progreso Semanal website.
A bill proposed by Congress member David Rivera, the H.R. 2831, which would modify the Public Act 89-732 (known as Cuban Adjustment Act), will be discussed on Thursday during a meeting of the Subcommittee on Immigration Policy and Enforcement of the House of Representatives.
The measure calls for those travelling to the Island to immediately lose their "political refugee" status, as establish under the so-called Adjustment Act for those emigrating from Cuba and arriving to US territory.
By losing their "adjustment" qualification, those Cuban Americans would be considered "illegal" if they return to the United States, denounced journalist Alvaro Fernandez in a commentary published today on the Progres Semanal website.
"If it is approved, the H.R. 2831 would affect nearly 50 percent of the people travelling to Cuba because they are not US citizens, preventing them from having physical contact with their relatives, and we cannot let this be," said the columnist.
Last year Rivera presented his amendment for the first time and it was rejected.
Also in December, 2011, Rep. Mario Diaz Balart (Fl.), a member of the group of anti-Cuban legislators, proposed a bill that would further restrict US and Cuban American travel, as well as remittances to Cuba.
The initiative, included under the federal budget law for 2012, was aimed at re-establishing restrictions approved under the George W. Bush Administration, including only one trip every three years for Cuban Americans for "family reunification" reasons and a limit of 1,200 USD a year in remittances.
The alleged easing of sanctions approved by President Barack Obama in January, 2011, would also be annulled. It favored academic, religious, cultural or sports travel, if they met what the Oval Office called "people-to-people contact promotion".
The consensus achieved among several legislators and the president's threat of veto made it fail.
"Some months ago I warned on the need to get ready, because our businesses, jobs and interests are affected by the limited relation with Cuba, and it is time for an organized group or association to be created to deal with the issues that sometimes take us by surprise," commented Fernandez.
If you are a US citizen and a voter, phone the subcommittee office and do not let them think that only those who are not US citizens oppose this amendment, he advised readers. (PL)
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Última actualización el Miércoles, 30 de Mayo de 2012 09:57 |
