Editorial: Time to end Cubans' special immigration status

Two GOP presidential hopefuls might not want to hear this, but it’s time for Congress to do away with the special status that grants Cuban migrants the automatic right to legally reside in the United States as soon as they set foot on U.S. soil. There’s no longer anything special about Cuban conditions that should endow them with this unfair, special advantage.

Millions of immigrants from Central and South America make the extremely dangerous trip to the U.S.-Mexico border in hopes of sneaking across without visas. Upon setting foot in America, their status is illegal.

Understandably, they want a better life for themselves and their families. But that doesn’t make illegal migration excusable. The only correct way is the legal way, which involves applying for a visa, making countless trips to U.S. consular facilities and waiting months or years for permission to enter. That process is overdue for reform.

Why should Cubans get an automatic place at the front of the line? It all dates to the Cold War and Fidel Castro’s Communist revolution in Cuba. The United States declared a unilateral economic embargo in 1962 and later offered safe haven to Cuban citizens who managed to escape Castro’s oppression.

Last year, President Barack Obama restored full diplomatic relations with Cuba and opened the way for ending some trade and travel restrictions. He will travel to Cuba this month. His rapprochement drew apoplectic rebukes from GOP presidential hopefuls Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida. The two senators are Cuban-American.

Neither has had great success attracting widespread support among American Hispanics, partly because most Latino voters don’t share the two candidates’ favored migratory heritage and reject their get-tough stances against immigrants who don’t enjoy the Cubans’ special status.

Yes, news continues to emerge from Cuba of political repression. But most Cubans who fly daily to Mexico and then rush to the Texas border readily admit that they are coming for economic reasons, not persecution.

In 2015, the migration rate of Cubans entering through the Texas border crossing at Laredo nearly doubled from 2014 levels. They’re coming because Cubans sense that the door could be about to close.

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, has sponsored a bill to remove their special status, arguing that “Cubans should be treated the same as everyone else.” He’s right, and many legislators from both sides of the aisle agree.

Just about everything else in the U.S. immigration system is harshly unfair, especially to those at the lowest rung of the economic ladder. Comprehensive immigration reform is unlikely to pass anytime soon, even though it’s long overdue.

But ample agreement exists right now on the special-status issue. Congress should close the Cuban migratory loophole.