{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://gosar.house.gov/press-release/rep-gosar-%E2%80%9C-end-fidel-castro-should-signal-end-cuban-adjustment-act%E2%80%9D", "Rep. Gosar: The End of Fidel Castro  Should Signal the End of the Cuban Adjustment Act", "2016-11-29", "2016", "2016-11", "Republican", "House", "AZ", "Paul Gosar", "G000565", "gosar.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "WASHINGTON, D.C. \u2013 Today, U.S. Congressman Paul A. Gosar, D.D.S. (AZ-04) released the following statement after Cuban State television announced the death of former dictator Fidel Castro over the past weekend:\n\u201cThe death of Fidel Castro signals a new hope for the Cuban people who suffered under one of the most brutal dictatorships in modern history. However, until all remnants of the Castro regime are removed from power, Cuba will never be free. I join many of my Congressional colleagues in calling on President-elect Donald Trump to undo President Obama\u2019s misguided executive actions on Cuba.\n\u201cAdditionally, the end of Fidel Castro should signal the end of the Cuban Adjustment Act and the end of the Wet Foot/Dry Foot policy. These outdated amnesty programs cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars and provide Cuban nationals with an unfair benefit not available to any other country in the world. Further, Congress should immediately act and pass my commonsense legislation, the Ending Special National Origin-Based Immigration Programs for Cubans Act, in order to prevent such abuse from future administrations.\u201d\n\u00a0\nBackground:\nCongressman Gosar\u2019s bill repeals the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, calls for termination of the Wet Foot/Dry Foot policy and requires that all immigrants from Cuba are treated in the same manner as any other person seeking to immigrate to the United States.\nThe full bill text of H.R. 3818, the Ending Special National Origin-Based Immigration Programs for Cubans Act can be found\u00a0HERE.\u00a0\nThe bill is endorsed by: Federation of American Immigration Reform (FAIR) and NumbersUSA.\nEarlier this year, Congressman Gosar penned an op-ed for Conservative Review titled \u201cEnding Instant Amnesty for Cubans\u201d. The full op-ed can be found\u00a0HERE.\nThe Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel published a series of investigative articles exposing billions of dollars of waste at the expense of U.S. taxpayers as a result of Cuban immigration fraud. Click on the respective link to read each article:\u00a0End The Fraud In Cuban Immigration;\u00a0Cubans Retire To Florida \u2013 With Help From U.S. Taxpayers;\u00a0U.S. Welfare Flows To Cuba.\nThe Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966 initially allowed for \u201cany native or citizen of Cuba\u201d who had been \u201cinspected and admitted or paroled into the United States subsequent to January 1, 1959\u201d and who had been physically present in the United States for two years, to be lawfully admitted for permanent residence.\nThis law was later amended to change the physically present requirement to one year and Cuban immigrants are currently allowed to stay in this country to work and are also put on a path to citizenship. This is a luxury and benefit that no other country in the world enjoys, and given that the president unilaterally reestablished diplomatic relations with Cuba, such actions are unwarranted and defy commonsense.\u00a0\nPerhaps the most disturbing part of this flawed immigration policy is that Cuba does not allow Cuban citizens convicted of crimes in the U.S. to be repatriated to Cuba. The\u00a0Miami Sun-Sentinel\u00a0reported that \u201cCubans are allowed to enter the United States without visas or background checks of their criminal histories in Cuba. Unlike other immigrants seeking political asylum, Cubans can return home without jeopardizing their status, aiding crime rings that recruit accomplices and hide stolen money in Cuba...They also make it nearly impossible to deport criminals to Cuba after they serve their sentences in the U.S., as would be the case with criminals from most other countries.\u201d As a result, the Cuban Adjustment Act has allowed Cuban thieves to rob American taxpayers of more than $2 billion, creating a \u201ccriminal pipeline\u201d from the U.S. to Cuba.\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://gosar.house.gov/press-release/rep-gosar-%E2%80%9C-end-fidel-castro-should-signal-end-cuban-adjustment-act%E2%80%9D"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7506562396883965, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}