Free Republic

The march from Honduras echoes the 1980 Mariel boatlift. These columns favor generous immigration and asylum for refugees. But when migration becomes a political weapon to foment border chaos, leaders have no choice other than to step in and protect national security. Exhibit A are the 4,000 or so Central Americans moving on foot through Mexico to the U.S. Waves of humanity marching in lock step don’t materialize spontaneously and neither has this “caravan.” This march is organized and not necessarily for the benefit of the migrants. Mr. Trump has good reason to turn it back. Not since the 1980...

In all, 125,000 Cubans fled to U.S. shores in about 1,700 boats, creating large waves of people that overwhelmed the U.S. Coast guard. Cuban guards had packed boat after boat, without considering safety, making some of the overcrowded boats barely seaworthy. Twenty-seven migrants died, including 14 on an overloaded boat that capsized on May 17. The boatlift also began to have negative political implications for U.S. President Jimmy Carter. When it was discovered that a number of the exiles had been released from Cuban jails and mental health facilities, many were placed in refugee camps while others were held in...

The debate in the Jewish world over whether an alliance with conservative Christians is desirable or wise reveals a complete disregard for the nature of political alliances in any political system throughout history. The debate is conducted at a childish level that would cause embarrassment in any other context. As such, there is an air of unreality about it that belies the reputation of the Jewish people for being clever. Political alliances are not and have never been about whether allies love each other; rather, the nature of such associations is expressed in the well known maxim of Lord Palmerston,...

MIAMI -- More than 700 Mariel refugees have been ordered released from prisons and immigration jails because the United States has no power to deport them to their native Cuba. But the Miami Beach arrest of one of the newly released men indicates background checks performed before they were let out are not up to snuff. Police took Roberto Machin into custody in March after finding him asleep on a park bench. A routine check found he was wanted in Tennessee in a 21-year-old murder. He has been sent to Nashville for prosecution. Complaints about the mass releases from federal...

In 1971, the year I played a Vietnamese, I was a 7-year-old Communist pioneer who had already been made to swear to grow up to be like Che Guevara. Fidel Castro constantly reminded us that we were the hope of the world and that the revolution had been fought so that children like us could receive free education and free health care. For me, born in 1964, five years after Castro seized power, there was no other reality. I didn't know that children who lived elsewhere did not read Ho Chi Minh's biography in second grade. I hadn't thought about...

150 detainees freed; more expected soon The Bush administration has begun to comply with last month's Supreme Court decision ordering the release of Mariel convicts in indefinite detention. By ALFONSO CHARDY Miami Herald In response to last month's U.S. Supreme Court ruling, federal officials have released nearly 150 people who came to the United States from Cuba in the 1980 Mariel boatlift and later were convicted of crimes. About 600 more Mariel convicts remain in prisons and jails nationwide, along with more than 100 non-Cuban detainees, said Manny Van Pelt, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security in Washington,...

HAVANA -- A former political prisoner whose case was highlighted by President Bush urged Cuba's government Friday to hold a referendum on whether to change the communist island's political system. In a 10-page report called "The Cuba We Want," Leonardo Bruzon Avila and fellow dissident Carlos Rios Otero called for the referendum and laid out a plan for Cuba's transition to a multiparty, democratic system and free-market economy. The report was delivered Friday to the offices of Cuban Justice Minister Roberto Diaz Sotolongo. There was no public reaction by the President Fidel Castro's government to the recommendations. The proposal echoed...

Anyone remember the Cuban Mariel boat lift of the 1980's? This is when thousands of Cubans packed dozens of boats and came to the US in the 1980's. I just read a report that Castro said a few hours ago that he may rip up all US-CUBA immigration accords and even close down the US interest office in Havana. I think he will do this to try to hurt Bush and this nation. He has used his people's desperation to get back at his enemies and I'm afraid he may do this. Lets all hope it's all talk. Just wanted...