en Rubio Questions Sec Mayorkas at a Senate Approps Hearing
Rubio: If you come from Cuba, you are presumed to be fleeing political persecution. So you automatically are eligible for refugee cash. You’re eligible for food stamps. You’re eligible for Medicare, Medicaid, and others who immigrate to this country have to wait five years for those and don’t get the refugee cash. But within a year, depending if you’re on parole, you can apply for a green card. And then you can travel back to Cuba as often as you want, multiple times. You can take cash. You can buy stuff with the food stamps. I’ve seen it. Okay, this is not—I didn’t read this in a magazine. I’ve seen it. They use the food stamps. They fill up these bags and they take it back to Cuba over there. Or they just transfer cash back. Some people go back to Cuba for three months at a time. They’ve been here a year. How, if you were fleeing persecution, how can it be that a year later you are spending summers in Cuba? How can it be that less than a year later you’re traveling back 6, 8 times a year to Cuba? I’ve never heard of people fleeing persecution going back to a place repeatedly. There’s an issue here, is there not, Senator?

Witness: we do indeed remove individuals to Cuba

Rubio: assuming Cuba will accept them, and they’re ineligible for some reason
Witness: that is correct.
Rubio: But the overwhelming majority do not get removed, which is fine. I’m just saying if once you—I’m not talking to the people that are here. Once you are here, you’re assumed here because you’re a refugee fleeing persecution, and you have a host of benefits. At a minimum, if a year later you’re here on refugee status but you’re going back to Cuba six times, shouldn’t you at least lose the refugee status?

Witness: Let me follow up with your concern. The question being, if I understand it correctly, is if indeed an individual flees the country of origin by reason of fear of persecution, they obtain refugee status because specifically Cuban, Cuban in this case, because that fear has been affirmed, and they are now a refugee. Does their desire and actually travel to the country of origin militate against the legitimacy of their claim a year later, Senator Baldwin? I will follow up on that.

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Cubans automatically get cash, food stamps, Medicare & Medicaid; Go back Cuba with Bags 6 times a year