Cuban American Adjustment, the DREAM Act of 1966

The DREAM Act has already worked, it’s a proven practice, it’s just been called something different and benefited a very specific group of people.

Turn your calendar back to 1966 when our country was steeped in the cold war and Fidel Castro was one of America’s most hated communists. Thousands of Cubans made their way to our shores and were greeted with a path to citizenship. It was called the Cuban Adjustment Act and it gave them, in the words of Miriam Zoila Perez, writing for Colorlines.com, the ability “to work and live legally (in the US) since day one.” Since the inception of the Cuban Adjustment Act all Cuban’s who have come to the US, without exception,  have been “able to become legal permanent residents within one year of being in the U.S. and citizens five years later.”

Perez, the daughter Cuban immigrants who were brought here during their teens,  makes this point:

In today’s immigration climate, and particularly during the debate happening right now on the DREAM Act, it’s hard to imagine legislation as generous as our long-standing policy toward Cubans in the United States. Conservatives have tried to paint the DREAM Act as some sort of amnesty. In reality, the DREAM Act is an extremely narrow piece of legislation offering a select group of youth a long and challenging path to citizenship. When compared to the policy that allowed my parents to come to the U.S,, it looks positively draconian.

The DREAM Act, on the other hand:

• includes a 10-year probationary period
• required military service or college attendance
• prohibits DREAMers from accessing health care benefits during the probationary time

The results of the CAA have been outstanding. Cuban American’s

outperform all other Latino groups in basically every category linked to economic status, according to data from the Pew Hispanic Center. Cubans are almost twice as likely as other Latinos to have a college degree (25 percent as opposed to 12.9 percent). Cubans have a median income that is $5,000 higher than other Latino groups. Only 13.2 percent of Cubans are living in poverty, as opposed to 20.7 percent of other Latinos. The list goes on. Based on 2008 census data, in homeownership, employment rates, number of insured, across the board Cuban Americans do better than all other Latino groups.

Granted, the Cuban’s who came to the US decades ago were , because of the force that drove them here, better educated and wealthier than other Latin American immigrants. And while a few of the Cuban exiles manged to smuggle only a small portion of their wealth when they came here, the advantages they received were unprecedented.

The bottom line is that those advantages didn’t only benefit Cubans. The American society and economy as a whole have benefited; it was and is success-proven. Again, Perez puts it succinctly:

Whatever drove the policy in Washington, what’s significant is its outcome. Whereas immigrants today are faced with countless roadblocks to success even when they are documented, Cubans have been given every type of assistance necessary to guarantee our success. And it’s worked.

So why has it taken so long to get it right this time?