The so-called “wet foot dry foot” policy was an over-two-decades-old initiative sparked by Bill Clinton in 1995 that allowed Cuban immigrants permanent residentship without undergoing the process of applying for a visa – so long as these immigrants arrived on U.S. soil. If immigrants were found while sailing to the U.S., hence “wet foot”, they would be consequently sent back to Cuba. This policy sympathized for Cuban immigrants, proclaiming them refugees escaping the oppressive government back home. However, on Thursday, President Obama terminated the policy.
The controversy lies with preferential treatment; considering the more recently established diplomatic ties between U.S. and Cuban relations, many deemed prolonging the Cuba-exclusive policy would put the lives and access to opportunity of Cuban immigrants ahead of the lives of other immigrants.
“By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries,” President Obama said in a statement given at the White House on Thursday following the announcement of his decision. “Since I took office, we have put the Cuban-American community at the center of our policies. With this change we will continue to welcome Cubans as we welcome immigrants from other nations, consistent with our laws.”
Many agree with the expulsion of this policy, viewing this political move as essential in order to fully normalize ties between the two countries.
However, many others see this as a plight undermining the repressive quality of life many Cubans endure at home. By revoking this policy, the refugee status of Cuban immigrants is also revoked, which to some hints at desensitization toward the ongoing issues at hand. Many thought since the negotiation on December 17, 2014, regarding diplomatic relations between the two nations that quality of life has increased in Cuba. Yet, since then, arrests and arbitrary detentions increased while access to freedom of expression decreased.
President Obama also ended the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program; this program was initiated in order to allow doctors and other medical workers to obtain a temporary legal status in the United States, where they could practice medicine more freely. The policy ended on behalf of “risks [of] harming the Cuban people.”
Republican Cuban-American Representative Ileana Ros-Lehtinen expressed criticism on both topics in a statement: “In another bad deal by the Obama administration, it has traded wet foot/dry foot for the elimination of an important program which was undermining the Castro regime by providing an outlet for Cuban doctors to seek freedom from forced labor which only benefits an oppressive regime.”
This was one of the final policy decisions we will see from the Obama administration, and whatever one may view of it, decisions on what happens next will be up to the succeeding administration.
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