• Submitted by: manso
• International
• 12 / 10 / 2010

---

A change in the way some immigrants from Cuba are processed could deny them certain benefits once they enter the United States, Florida officials said.BY JUAN O. TAMAYO. [email protected]

A change in the way that some Cubans' applications for U.S. entry are handled could deny them a broad range of benefits when they arrive in the United States, according to Florida officials.

``If our understanding is correct, this change will have serious unanticipated consequences for the State of Florida and particularly for Miami-Dade County,'' the state Department of Children and Families wrote in a letter to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services has already identified more than 3,200 cases that will be affected, DCF Secretary George Sheldon wrote in the Nov. 22 letter to Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano.

The shift would deny those Cubans the right to health screenings and immunizations, Medicaid and Refugee Medical Assistance as well as employment services, English language, vocational training and help with child care, according to the letter.

Cubans affected will then have to turn to financially strapped public hospitals and clinics for care, it added, and to overburdened state programs for employment and language assistance.

Hiram Ruiz, director of DCF refugee services in Miami-Dade, said the issue is being discussed by Homeland Security officials in Washington but there has been no official reply yet to the Sheldon letter.

A Homeland Security spokesperson said the change had been decided by the U.S. State Department. A State Department spokesman said consular service officials would have to look into the Florida letter.

The change, announced by the U.S. diplomatic mission in Havana on Oct. 27, affects only the spouses and minor children of legal U.S. residents, who were being processed under the Cuban Family Reunification Program. They are to be be processed as regular immigrant visa applicants beginning Jan. 1.

Under this program, established in 2007 to cut the delays in Cubans' visa applications, those approved for entry were quickly ``paroled'' into the United States and did not have to wait on the island for their F2A visas.

But the worldwide demand in that visa category decreased in recent times, according to the U.S. mission, and the decision was made to return the processing of spouses and children of Green Card holders to their previous status.

Starting Jan. 1, the mission announced, F2A applicants ``will be processed as immigrant visa applicants and will receive Legal Permanent Resident status upon entry to the United States.''

But the shift, Sheldon noted in his letter to Napolitano, meant that the 3,200 Cubans affected would not be eligible for the benefits available to parolees.

It also would create odd ``disparities,'' he added. ``Spouses and children of lawful permanent relatives will be ineligible for services that will be available to more distant relatives'' arriving as parolees.

``Finally, this change in eligibility . . . will soon become known both here and in Cuba, and could prompt more to leave through irregular channels, undertaking dangerous voyages,'' Sheldon added.

Source: /www.miamiherald.com/2010/12/10/