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For decades, immigrants from Cuba have received special treatment. That has to stop

Reevaluating Cuban refugees • It’s time U.S. women register for the draft

Just as U.S. policy toward Cuba has changed, so must U.S. policy toward Cubans—specifically, those Cubans who find their way to the U.S. But the change in immigration policy, like the change in diplomatic policy, needs to proceed carefully, or it may trigger the kind of crisis both countries want to avoid.

For almost a half-century, Cubans have received unique treatment under U.S. immigration law. As long as they set foot on U.S. soil, Cubans are all but guaranteed admission. They can get a green card within a year and are basically exempt from deportation and immigration enforcement policies affecting other noncitizens. Plus, because they’re treated as refugees, they qualify for federal assistance and other benefits.

Yet as ties have improved between the U. S. and Cuba, some unforeseen consequences of this policy have become glaringly evident. The easing of travel restrictions by both sides has led to “refugees” who freely shuttle back and forth between the two countries. Unlike other refugees, Cubans can travel home without jeopardizing their U.S. immigration status. Moreover, the lack of rigorous background checks has created what Florida’s Sun-sentinel calls the Cuban Criminal Pipeline, a population of petty and not-so-petty crooks, many of whom fraudulently claim federal benefits.

Cuban immigrants have immeasurably enriched the U.S. But the anomalies and widespread abuses of immigration policy toward Cuba have sparked an outcry even among the most diehard opponents of the Castros. Defending the existing policy is even harder in the face of the much higher hurdles that those fleeing violence in Syria and Central America confront.

Changing the system comes with risks. Fears among Cubans of a shift in policy have already triggered a near-doubling in arrivals during the 2015 fiscal year, ended Sept. 30, to 43,159. A protracted battle to repeal or rewrite the Cuban Adjustment Act, the 1966 law that codifies U.S. immigration policy toward the country, would send even more rushing for the exits.

President Obama could use his executive authority to subject all Cubans who arrive in the U.S., by whatever means, to screening: They’d have to prove they faced a credible fear of persecution before they could be paroled into the U.S. Those who are economic, rather than political, refugees would be sent back to Cuba. That change could be made relatively quickly and might deter many Cubans from making an expensive and now more uncertain trek. After that administrative measure is in place, Congress should then junk the Cuban Adjustment Act.

Of course, the best way to persuade Cubans to stay in Cuba would be for the U. S. Congress to drop its embargo and for President Raúl Castro to speed up the opening of his country’s economy and political system. That’s the adjustment Cuba really needs.

To read Noah Feldman on SCOTUS and Ramesh Ponnuru on Trump and Muslims, go to

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