With the upcoming Trump administration, Carlos Curbelo thinks that “we’re gonna see a change in direction. “
According to him, it will be substantially different to the Obama administration’s handling of foreign policy because Obama “has this policy of unilateral concessions. All of our enemies seem to get whatever they ask for, and our country gets very little in return… Under this new administration, we’re gonna see better deals.”
Specifically, Curbelo is going to be focused on policies relating to the United States’ relationship with Cuba.
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“I’m focused on, specifically, and I have been for some time now on reforming our Cuban refugee policy. Today, any Cuban who arrives in the United States is automatically treated like a political refugee,” he said before going on to explain the frustrations over abuse of the system.
“There’s a lot of abuse of this policy. For example, there are people living in Cuba today who are cashing US welfare checks. Their relatives here in the United States cash their checks or receive the funds by transfer. That was not the intention of this generous policy, so we want to make sure that we do help those people who are the victims of political persecution.
There are plenty of them in Cuba; the Castro government still beats people and imprisons people. So, the benefits should go to those people if they flee to our country. But, we can’t have people living in Cuba on U.S. welfare. We can’t have people coming to our country over the age of 65 and getting social security for life despite never having worked here. That’s all wrong.”-Rep. Carlos Curbelo
In response to this, his bill, the Cuban Immigrant Work Opportunity Act, “guarantees that any Cuban who does come to the United States can get a work permit and get to work and contribute to our economy” because “the welfare benefits should be reserved for those truly fleeing political persecution and can’t return to Cuba.”
Meanwhile. immigrant households in Arizona, legal or not, are cashing in themselves on the U.S. Welfare system. According to a 2011 report from the Center for Immigration Studies, at least one program is used by these households. Arizona ranks at the top for the amount of government assistance offered to immigrant families.
