Department of Homeland Security, (DHS) Secretary, Alejandro Mayorkas, has spoken. In a statement yesterday, Mayorkas warned citizens of Cuba and Haiti against trying to flee to the United States.

Mayorkas was born in Havana. His parents fled Cuba shortly after the Cuban Revolution to Miami and they later settled in California. Mayorkas was afforded every opportunity to succeed in this great country, including an undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley and later, a J.D. from Loyola Marymount University. But despite this, Mayorkas is concerned about the means of Cubans and Haitians fleeing their countries by water.

Allow me to be clear, if you take to the sea, you will not come to the United States.”-Alejandro Mayorkas

The DHS Secretary stated that individuals traveling by sea to cross our borders will be repatriated to a third country. Meanwhile in Cuba:

“We called on the Cuban government to ease tensions”, says Joe Biden. Sure, that will do the trick, Joe. I’m sure Miguel Mario Díaz-Canel will happily oblige.

Mayorkas said the Department of Homeland Security has seen a slight increase in maritime migration and intends to stop it before it becomes a surge, especially during hurricane season and as the coronavirus pandemic remains a public health threat, according to The Washington Post.

I can see why some may find this harsh but in reality, the Biden admin is trying to prevent people from coming by boat for their own good, there’s a very strong chance of injury or even death when someone takes the ocean route. Let’s try to actually fix the issue in their country

— Myles (Cheri Beasley For Senate 2022) ☺️ (@milesmm4444) July 14, 2021

Seriously, fix the issue in their country? I mean, Cuba, aside from a few Communist dictators, is a great country, right? All citizens have amazing healthcare (according to Michael Moore), their school system produces high literacy rates and there’s free college for all . All they need to do is tweak a few things and they’ll be okay. Is that what the Democrats said when the Central-American migrant caravans were making their way to our southern borders?

Worsening living conditions across northern Central America are contributing to an increase in migration flows. Historically, gang and gender-based violence, poverty, insecurity and climate change have been the cause for more than 712,000 people to be internally and externally displaced in Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador every year. These factors did not change during COVID-19, in fact many worsened.-Rescue.org

Ahh, Climate change. There it is. Couldn’t have kids in cages because of climate change. We need to feed their families, give them healthcare and an education and housing. Those kids crossing over bodies of water from a Communist country? They won’t even get a cage or a blanket. They and their families will be sent elsewhere. Why? Because attempting to cross into The United States by sea is (shudder) too dangerous.

As if crossing the Rio Grande isn’t? So dangerous. And who could forget the tragic footage of a family washed up on the riverbank when they attempted to make that dangerous crossing? The media salivated all over this because this was the hard immigration policies enforced by the Trump presidency in one illustration. These were just individuals wanting a shot at a better life here in America, as the narrative went. If only we let them across our borders, the story goes. They would have been able to cross legally and would have avoided the dangerous crossing over a body of water. And whatever did happen to Biden’s promise to reverse the “hardline policies of his predecessor”? Joe Biden certainly sang a new tune after taking up residency in The White House, didn’t he? “Don’t come over”, he said. Alejandro Mayorkas is just parroting his boss like a good DHS Secretary.

Tell them to come across the southern border with some coyote.

— Teresa † ن (@BlackIrishI) July 13, 2021

But the time is never right to cross into our borders by water.

The time is never right to attempt migration by sea.”-Alejandro Mayorkas

That’s funny. How did your family get here, Alejandro? If the time is never right to attempt migration by sea, I have news for you. A hell of a lot of us would not be here. My family came off of boats from Italy and the Czech Republic in the early 1900s. They were fleeing poverty and persecution, respectively. They weren’t on a 5-star cruise ship in a garden villa with an unlimited buffet and a drink package, either. You know what, though? They took their chances.

But could it be Cuban immigrants are not the immigrants our leadership needs right now?

"These aren't the vot….umm…refugees we're looking for." pic.twitter.com/oaTHjigD1E

— Judge Smails (@JSmails) July 13, 2021

He’s not wrong. Take a look. According to this:

Cubans in Florida have helped make the state’s Latino vote different from that of the nation overall. In 2016, 54% of Cubans in Florida voted for Donald Trump, compared with 35% of the state’s Latino voters overall and 28% of Latinos nationwide, according to exit polls. (A Pew Research Center study of the 2016 electorate based on validated voters found similar voting patterns among Latinos nationwide.)

Turnout among Cuban Americans has regularly been one of the highest among Hispanic eligible voter groups. In 2016, 58% of Cubans voted, compared with 55% of Dominicans, 49% of Salvadorans, 46% of Puerto Ricans and 44% of Mexicans, according to an analysis of Census Bureau data.’-pewresearch.org

Why would a Cuban-American not vote for a progressive Democrat? Probably because a Cuban-American can recognize Communist rhetoric from afar. Blackouts, food shortages, vaccine shortages because everything is controlled by the state. Communications controlled by the state. Violence, repression and brute force in an attempt to silence citizens who speak out against the state. But there’s free healthcare and a solid education so it can’t be that bad, right? And downtown Havana is oh-so charming, say the Democrats. Cuba sounds absolutely freaking fabulous, doesn’t it? Why ever would anyone leave?

But Mayorkas says this is not the time for Cubans to flee their country. After all, we can’t have any tales of oppressive Communism from those who have lived it when Socialist ideology is picking up steam in our free nation. Take your libertad elsewhere, he says. In other words, keep rowing.

Photo Credit: Valbonna22/Moody College of Communications/FlickR/CC BY-SA 2.0/Cropped