all nations, and especially nations still designated by the Department of State as 'terrorist' countries, including Cuba, are subject to a panoply of ever tightening exclusion, detention and deportation risks. How these new immigration laws and administrative regulations will be applied to Cuban refugees depends in large part on developments in Cuba after Castro leaves office.
Cuban Immigration to the United States in the Pre-Castro Era
The United States Supreme Court has held that "immigration is an inherent aspect of sovereignty, and that, therefore, Congress has 'plenary power' over immigration." Kleindienst v. Mandel, 408 U.S. 753, 765 (1972). Until the 1924 Immigration and Naturalization Act, America's borders were open to healthy immigrants without criminal or subversive records at home. Thereafter, visas were issued to 150,000 immigrants per annum, distributed in accordance with national quotas which in turn were proportional to the percentage of native born Americans who traced their origins to a particular country. (Ngai, 2002, Spring, p. 75). Others were issued visas under various professional, educational, business and special purpose exceptions, including the reunion of family members. Relatively few Cubans qualified for admission. For example, in 1945 2,172 Cubans entered the U.S. on permanent visas and in 1956 14,953. (Ibarra, 1998, p. 157). A larger number, 40,000-50,000 a year, either entered illegally or overstayed their tourist visas. Ibarra reported that in the 1950s, 150,000 Cubans were living in the United States, mostly in Florida or in New York City (p. 157).
Cuban refugees from Castro's regime came in waves. Staten (2002) said that the first group of approximately 215,000 who came between 1959 and 1962 were "almost all . . . members of the upper and middle classes," who were disillusioned with the Castro regime's communist orientation or otherwise misfits in post-revolutionary Cuban society (p. 100). ...