Marco Rubio on Tuesday introduced legislation that would eliminate automatic federal benefits for Cuban immigrants.
The Republican presidential candidate’s bill would alter a decades-old policy under which the US government has given Cuban immigrants – unlike other those from other countries – immediate access to programs such as Medicaid, welfare and food stamps.
Rubio, who is the son of Cuban immigrants, has stated on the campaign trail in recent weeks that the special treatment afforded to those fleeing the island must be re-examined in light of “outrageous abuse” of the existing law.
His proposal would require immigrants from Cuba to prove they were persecuted in order to qualify for public assistance, as refugees and asylum-seekers from most countries must do.
In a statement on Monday, Rubio said that it was “outrageous whenever the American people’s generosity is exploited”.
“It is particularly outrageous when individuals who claim to be fleeing repression in Cuba are welcomed and allowed to collect federal assistance based on their plight, only to return often to the very place they claimed to be fleeing,” the Florida senator said.
“The weaknesses in our current law not only allow the flow of American tax dollars into the Castro regime’s coffers; it also undermines the legitimate cause of those Cubans who are truly fleeing repression and political persecution.”
A growing number of Cuban Americans in Congress have advocated for reforms to the conditions under which the federal benefits are provided, amid increased scrutiny over how the program is being used.
A lengthy investigation by the Sun Sentinel in October found that current federal aid to Cuban immigrants had expanded to at least $680m a year, up from the $1m allocation in 1960. Critics have also argued that Cubans are increasingly travelling to the US for reasons that are less political and more economic, and that many recipients of the benefits quickly return to Cuba.
Since the recent thaw in relations between Washington and Havana, the number of Cuban migrants attempting to reach the US by sea or through Central America has surged.
Migration experts say the rush has been triggered by fears that the recent détente may prompt the US to revise its “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy, which also grants unique immigration privileges to Cubans. Under a 1995 revision of the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, any migrant intercepted at sea is sent back, but those Cubans who make it to land can stay, and can apply for permanent residency after a year and a day.
In addition to Rubio’s bill, Florida Republican Carlos Curbelo filed similar legislation in the House of Representatives last month that has since gained bipartisan support – including from Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman who chairs the Democratic National Committee.
The efforts have thus far focused on federal benefits and do not affect the process under which Cubans can apply for legal residency.
Rubio has long indicated he was open to re-evaluating the special status for Cubans, telling the Tampa Bay Times in 2013 that “it gets very difficult to justify someone’s status as an exile and refugee” if they return home soon thereafter. He reiterated the point in an interview with the Associated Press in November, saying: “When you have people who are coming and a year and a day later are travelling back to Cuba 15 times a year, 12 times, 10 times, eight times, that doesn’t look like someone who is fleeing oppression.”
While campaigning in New Hampshire last week, Rubio also took aim at how Barack Obama’s renewal of diplomatic ties with Cuba might impact the influx of immigrants into the US.
“I think at this point, the migratory policy with Cuba has changed dramatically. You’ve seen a huge upsurge now after the deal the president made with the Castro brother and it’s becoming a real crisis,” Rubio said.
The Florida senator is an ardent opponent of Obama’s shift in Cuba policy and told the Guardian last year he would reinstate the 50-year-old diplomatic freeze if elected president.
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