Of course, pursuant to the federal Cuba Adjustment Act, Cubans that make it to the U.S. are not illegal aliens.
It was rank hypocrisy for Clinton to deem U.S. coastal waters to be the United States for every conceivable purpose, yet not to be the U.S. for purposes of the Cuba Adjustment Act. It is also shameful that President Bush has continued that idiotic policy. If Cubans escaping a Communist tyranny make it to U.S. territorial waters, it is cruel to send them back to Castro where their fate is even worse than it was before.
Yup. And, of course, the Elián González matter, which still boils my blood. Probably the singlemost evil thing the Clinton Administration did. Of course, that little boy’s forceable abduction to Cuba probably made Dubya President by tipping enough Cuban-American votes in FL against Gore.