The Debate over the Cuban Adjustment Act

Few U.S. immigration laws have lasted so long with so few changes as the Cuban Adjustment Act (Public Law 89-732), and few have sustained such a long argument. Since 1993, at least six bills to repeal it have been introduced in Congress, along with several others to cut back or expand its effects; as early as 2009 the Congressional Research Service (CRS) summarized that legislative efforts to "sunset" the Act or repeal it outright "have not been successful"¹. The online version of the United States Code maintained by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel of the House of Representatives, current through the laws of November 3, 2026, still carries its text as a note to section 1255 of title 8. Alongside it is the clause enacted in 1996 that sets the only route to automatic repeal: a presidential determination that a democratically elected government is in power in Cuba².

The arguments in favor

Those who defend the law start with its origin. The CRS, Congress's nonpartisan analytical office, wrote in 2009 that the legislative debate leading up to its enactment "makes clear that persons fleeing Cuba are presumed to be refugees under international law," although the 1966 text does not use the language or definitions commonly used for refugees and asylees¹.

The premise that Cuba is governed by a regime that persecutes also appears in official Washington documents that are not about the Act. National Security Presidential Memorandum 5 (NSPM-5), signed by Donald Trump in 2017 and reissued in 2025, states: "The Cuban people have long suffered under a Communist regime that suppresses their legitimate aspirations for freedom and prosperity and fails to respect their essential human dignity"³⁴. The CRS described Cuba in 2022 as "a one-party authoritarian state with a poor human rights record"⁵.

The same 2009 CRS report recorded two other arguments. Opponents of repealing or revising the Act said that doing so "would send the wrong message to Cubans" during a critical period, just after Fidel Castro had transferred power to his brother Raul. And supporters pointed out that the success of the migration agreement with Cuba, "particularly its commitment to admit at least 20,000 Cubans annually," depends on the ability to adjust the parolees under the Act¹.

Even some of those who called for changes defended it in essence. When Senator Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican, proposed in January 2016 to cut benefits for new arrivals, he said in his statement that "the need to help those fleeing repression in Cuba has not changed" and presented his bill as a way of "preserving the original intent of the Cuban Adjustment Act"⁶. And in 2017 and 2018, three restrictive bills that would have withdrawn asylum from anyone who returned to his or her country of origin included an express exception for Cubans entitled to adjust under this Act: H.R. 391 by Jason Chaffetz, S. 2192 by Chuck Grassley, and H.R. 4760 by Bob Goodlatte⁷.

The arguments against

Treatment no other nationality receives

The CRS summarized the criticism in 2009: for some, the law is "obsolete and locked into the mind set of the Cold War era," as well as unnecessary because Cubans can seek asylum under the refugee laws enacted after 1966; for others it is discriminatory, because it gives Cubans an immigration advantage that no other country's nationals have, and proponents of tighter immigration control have described it as a magnet attracting Cubans who would not otherwise qualify¹.

S. 1351, which Democratic Senator Harry Reid introduced on August 4, 1993, the oldest bill located, eliminated the Act under the heading "Nondiscrimination in Refugee Admissions" and added to the general immigration law a rule that refugee determinations "shall not discriminate in favor of or against any alien" on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion⁸. Twenty-two years later, Republican Paul Gosar's H.R. 3818 declared it the sense of Congress that "Cuban nationals should be treated under the same immigration rules as nationals of other countries with which the United States has diplomatic relations and should not receive preferential treatment"⁹.

In Florida, state Representative Frank Artiles filed for the 2016 legislative session a memorial urging Congress to repeal the Act "because it is a discriminatory act that no longer serves its original purpose." The state Senate passed a milder text on February 24, by Senator René García, which urged Congress to "review and revise" the Act; it died in the House on March 11, 2016¹⁰.

Going back and forth

The second criticism concerns trips to the island. The South Florida Sun Sentinel put it this way in 2015: "Unlike other immigrants seeking political asylum, Cubans can return home without jeopardizing their status"¹¹.

In August 2011, Republican Representative David Rivera of Florida introduced two bills to change that. H.R. 2771 raised the required presence from one year to five, declared ineligible anyone who returned to Cuba, and required the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to rescind the residence of anyone who went back to the island before becoming a citizen; H.R. 2831 kept those last two rules without changing the one-year period. The second received a subcommittee hearing in the House on May 31, 2012, and went no further¹²¹³.

Rubio took up the argument again in 2016: "It is particularly outrageous when individuals who claim to be fleeing repression in Cuba are welcomed and allowed to collect federal assistance based on their plight, only to return often to the very place they claimed to be fleeing"⁶. A Sun Sentinel and Florida Atlantic University (FAU) poll published in December 2015 found that about 62 percent of the Cuban Americans surveyed in Miami said the United States should cut off welfare for those who regularly return to the island¹⁴.

The incentive for the dangerous journey

The third criticism holds that special treatment pushes people to risk their lives. The CRS noted in 2017 that the "wet foot/dry foot" policy had been criticized by some "as encouraging Cubans to risk their lives in order to make it to the United States and as encouraging alien smuggling"; others maintained that the country should welcome those fleeing communist Cuba whether or not they reach land¹⁵. Trump's NSPM-5, in 2017 and again in 2025, ordered that the policy not be reinstated, saying it "encouraged untold thousands of Cuban nationals to risk their lives to travel unlawfully to the United States"³⁴. The Cuban government, as discussed below, has extended that accusation to the law itself.

There are nuances in that discussion. "Wet foot, dry foot" was an executive branch policy and ended in 2017; the Act remains in force (see Parole and I-220A). And when irregular Cuban emigration surged again in 2022, the CRS attributed it to "Cuba's difficult economic conditions and political repression, among other factors"⁵.

The Sun Sentinel investigation

On January 8, 2015, the Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel published "Plundering America: The Cuban Criminal Pipeline," a three-part series by Sally Kestin, Megan O'Matz, and John Maines, with Tracey Eaton reporting from Cuba. After a year of work, the paper argued that a policy created for humanitarian reasons had fueled a criminal network between Cuba and Florida that robbed American businesses and taxpayers of "more than $2 billion over two decades," with money flowing back to the island and fugitives taking refuge there¹¹.

"U.S. policy created for humanitarian reasons 50 years ago has fueled a criminal pipeline from Cuba to Florida." South Florida Sun Sentinel, January 8, 2015¹¹

The third installment covered the reaction in Congress. Republican Carlos Curbelo, a Cuban American from Kendall (Miami-Dade) who had just been elected, asked: "Should we, as American citizens, look the other way while people abuse a law that is one of the most generous in the history of the world?" The paper emphasized that even Cuban American members of Congress, the traditional defenders of preferential treatment, admitted that some change was needed¹⁶.

In October 2015 a second series followed, "Easy Money," on public benefits: Cubans get special access to U.S. welfare "as refugees who can't go home," the paper wrote, "But these days, they go back all the time"¹⁷. The paper calculated that those benefits cost taxpayers more than $680 million a year⁶¹⁴. Those benefits do not stem from the 1966 law. According to the CRS, Title V of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 reimburses states for assistance to "Cuban and Haitian entrants under the same conditions and to the same extent as such assistance and services for refugees," and the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, with its 1997 and 1998 amendments, placed them among the aliens eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI), food stamps, and Medicaid¹¹⁸.

On December 15, 2015, Curbelo introduced H.R. 4247, the Cuban Immigrant Work Opportunity Act, which drew 129 cosponsors, and on January 12, 2016, Rubio introduced his Senate version, S. 2441, citing the Sun Sentinel investigations. Both would have required Cubans arriving from then on to show persecution to receive refugee benefits, like other asylum seekers; neither touched the Cuban Adjustment Act and neither made it out of committee⁶¹⁸¹³.

The repeal clause

The condition that ties repeal to democracy in Cuba was enacted in 1996, but not in the Helms-Burton law, whose official name is the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996. It is in section 606 of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA), enacted on September 30, 1996, which refers to Helms-Burton to define the condition²:

"Public Law 89-732 [...] is repealed effective only upon a determination by the President under section 203(c)(3) of the Cuban Liberty and Democratic Solidarity (LIBERTAD) Act of 1996 [...] that a democratically elected government in Cuba is in power." IIRIRA, section 606(a), September 30, 1996²

In other words, Public Law 89-732 is repealed only when the President determines, under section 203(c)(3) of the LIBERTAD Act, that a democratically elected government is in power in Cuba. Subsection (b) adds that the repeal does not apply to people with an adjustment application pending on that date².

Helms-Burton sets out what counts as such a government. It must meet the requirements of a transitional government (among them, having released all political prisoners and not including Fidel or Raul Castro), result from free elections with international observers, respect civil liberties, make progress toward a market economy and an independent judiciary, and make progress on returning or compensating property confiscated from U.S. citizens since 1959¹⁹. As of November 2026, there is no record that any President has made that determination: the Act remains in the Code².

The clause does not prevent Congress from repealing the law in the ordinary way. That is why the bills of Gosar and of Texas Republican Blake Farenthold began by repealing section 606 itself⁹²⁰. In the opposite direction, the United States-Cuba Trade Act of 2026 (H.R. 7521), introduced on February 12, 2026 by Massachusetts Democrat James McGovern to lift the embargo, would repeal Helms-Burton and section 606 without touching the Cuban Adjustment Act, so that automatic route to repeal would disappear; it has only been referred to committee²¹.

The bills in Congress

The table lists the federal bills located whose text has been read, with the last action recorded by congress.gov (for S. 1351, the one that appears in its text). None became law¹³.

Its sponsor presented S. 4983 as the reissue of Reid's bill to eliminate birthright citizenship, and his press release does not mention Cuba; the text keeps the 1993 repeal word for word²⁴⁸.

Not all the bills have gone in the same direction. The Border Act of 2024 (S. 4361), introduced by Democratic Senator Christopher Murphy, included a special rule so that Cubans released under a new removal procedure could adjust even if they had not been admitted or paroled; it failed to get the votes to open debate on May 23, 2024 (43 in favor, 50 against)²⁵. And the Dignity Act (H.R. 4393), introduced on July 15, 2025 by Republican María Elvira Salazar with cosponsors from both parties, provides that, for purposes of the Cuban Adjustment Act, a person released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on an Order of Release on Recognizance (Form I-220A) up to January 31, 2023 is to be treated as paroled²⁶.

Washington and Havana

On January 12, 2017, President Barack Obama announced the end of "wet foot, dry foot," a policy that, he said, "was designed for a different era"²⁷. On that day's press call, Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson went further: "We also welcome repeal by Congress, by our Congress, of the Cuban Adjustment Act." Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said that the Act "is the legislative architecture around these policies" and that "That remains statute," although "we will not be granting parole to people who arrive here illegally by land or by sea," and added: "We do believe it would be the appropriate step for Congress to repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act"²⁸. The Trump administration maintained the end of the policy in 2017 and reaffirmed it in the memorandum reissued on June 30, 2025; neither text mentions the Cuban Adjustment Act³⁴.

The Cuban government asked for repeal in writing that same day. Its statement welcomed the end of "wet foot, dry foot," which it called an "encouragement of irregular emigration, of migrant smuggling," and of the parole program for Cuban doctors, and added (translated from Spanish)²⁹:

"It will also be necessary for the U.S. Congress to repeal the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, the only one of its kind in the world, which does not correspond to the current bilateral context." Statement of the Revolutionary Government, Havana, January 12, 2017 (translated from Spanish)²⁹

In November 2022, in the midst of the migration wave, Cuban officials repeated the argument on state television. Colonel Mario Méndez Mayedo, head of Immigration and Aliens for the Ministry of the Interior, asked (translated from Spanish): "How many more deaths does it take for them to eliminate the Cuban Adjustment Act?" The deputy director general for Consular Affairs and Cubans Residing Abroad at the foreign ministry argued that the continued existence of the Act "irresponsibly encourages" irregular migration (translated from Spanish)³⁰.

If it were repealed

The sources describe mechanisms, not results. If repeal came by way of section 606, the statute itself protects anyone with an adjustment application pending on the date it takes effect². If it came by an ordinary law, the reach would depend on its wording: Kopetski's 1994 bill respected those who had already been admitted or paroled if they applied for adjustment within two years; Frank's 2006 bill applied only to those who arrived afterward; those of Gosar and Farenthold applied only to people admitted or paroled from the date of enactment on^2223920. S. 4983 of 2026 carries no transition rule of its own and sets as its general effective date the fiscal years after fiscal year 2026²⁴.

As for consequences, the CRS recorded in 2009 the warning of the law's supporters: without it, only Cubans who met the refugee definition or who obtained family or employment visas could emigrate, and the waiting lists for those visas would grow¹. That is a prediction attributed to one side of the debate, not an official calculation.

Every case depends on its facts; this page is not a substitute for advice from an immigration attorney or an accredited representative.

Notes and sources

1. Congressional Research Service (CRS), "Cuban Migration to the United States: Policy and Trends," report R40566, June 2, 2009, full copy at EveryCRSReport, accessed November 11, 2026. https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20090602_R40566_5e40177b937bec01ee0cbfe8e8966e8c57e8c607.html back back back back back back

2. Office of the Law Revision Counsel (OLRC), 8 U.S.C. § 1255, notes "Cuban Refugees: Adjustment of Status" (Pub. L. 104-208, div. C, title VI, § 606, September 30, 1996, 110 Stat. 3009-695) and text of Pub. L. 89-732, edition current through Pub. L. 119-138 (November 3, 2026), accessed November 11, 2026. https://uscode.house.gov/us/usc/t8/s1255/ back back back back back back

3. Department of State, "Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba," Federal Register, vol. 82, pp. 48875-48878, October 20, 2017, which reproduces the presidential memorandum NSPM-5 signed June 16, 2017, section 2. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2017-10-20/pdf/2017-22928.pdf back back back

4. White House, "Reissuance of and Amendments to National Security Presidential Memorandum 5 on Strengthening the Policy of the United States Toward Cuba," memorandum of June 30, 2025, section 2, Federal Register, vol. 90, p. 38913, August 12, 2025. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2025-08-12/pdf/2025-15338.pdf back back back

5. CRS, "Cuba: U.S. Policy in the 117th Congress," report R47246, December 28, 2022, full copy at EveryCRSReport. https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/2022-12-28_R47246_d3f3e16cffca1a5f286b2e4f1260b555bf1389ba.html back back

6. Sally Kestin, "Rubio bill would curb welfare abuses by Cuban immigrants," South Florida Sun Sentinel, January 12, 2016. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2016/01/12/rubio-bill-would-curb-welfare-abuses-by-cuban-immigrants/ back back back back

7. H.R. 391, Asylum Reform and Border Protection Act of 2017, introduced by Jason Chaffetz on January 10, 2017, section 20(c), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-115hr391ih/html/BILLS-115hr391ih.htm; S. 2192, SECURE Act of 2017, introduced by Chuck Grassley on December 5, 2017, section 2007(c), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-115s2192pcs/html/BILLS-115s2192pcs.htm; H.R. 4760, Securing America's Future Act of 2018, introduced by Bob Goodlatte on January 10, 2018, section 4405, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-115hr4760ih/html/BILLS-115hr4760ih.htm back

8. S. 1351, 103rd Congress, introduced by Harry Reid on August 4, 1993, section 202, text at govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-103s1351is/html/BILLS-103s1351is.htm back back back

9. H.R. 3818, Ending Special National Origin-Based Immigration Programs for Cubans Act of 2015, introduced by Paul Gosar on October 23, 2015, sections 2-4, text at govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-114hr3818ih/html/BILLS-114hr3818ih.htm back back back back

10. Florida Legislature, HM 959 (2016), memorial filed by Frank Artiles, initial text and history, https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2016/959/BillText/Filed/PDF and https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2016/959; SM 1642 (2016), by René García, text passed by the Senate (e1) and history, https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2016/1642/BillText/e1/HTML and https://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2016/1642 back

11. Sally Kestin, Megan O'Matz, and John Maines, with Tracey Eaton, "Plundering America: The Cuban Criminal Pipeline. Part I: Exploiting U.S. Laws," South Florida Sun Sentinel, January 8, 2015. https://interactive.sun-sentinel.com/plundering-america/ back back back

12. H.R. 2771 (introduced August 1, 2011), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-112hr2771ih/html/BILLS-112hr2771ih.htm; and H.R. 2831 (introduced August 30, 2011), https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-112hr2831ih/html/BILLS-112hr2831ih.htm, both by David Rivera, texts at govinfo. back back

13. Congress.gov, status records of the bills cited (last action, date of introduction, and number of cosponsors), accessed through the Library of Congress's official API on November 11, 2026. https://api.congress.gov/ back back back

14. John Maines and Sally Kestin, "Poll finds Cubans in Miami aghast at welfare abuses," South Florida Sun Sentinel, December 18, 2015. https://www.sun-sentinel.com/2015/12/18/poll-finds-cubans-in-miami-aghast-at-welfare-abuses/ back back

15. CRS, "Cuba: Issues and Actions in the 114th Congress," report R43926, January 18, 2017, full copy at EveryCRSReport. https://www.everycrsreport.com/files/20170118_R43926_ce337f16f08ca419f8d735fc46499242b41b27e4.html back

16. Sally Kestin, Megan O'Matz, and William E. Gibson, "Plundering America. Part III: Congress reacts," South Florida Sun Sentinel, January 8, 2015. https://interactive.sun-sentinel.com/plundering-america/three.html back

17. South Florida Sun Sentinel, "Investigating the Cuban Adjustment Act," page collecting the 2015-2016 series and articles (reporting by Sally Kestin, Megan O'Matz, John Maines, and Tracey Eaton). https://interactive.sun-sentinel.com/cuban-adjustment-act/ back

18. S. 2441, Cuban Immigrant Work Opportunity Act of 2016, introduced by Marco Rubio on January 12, 2016, which amends title V of the Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980, text at govinfo, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-114s2441is/html/BILLS-114s2441is.htm; on H.R. 4247 and S. 2441, CRS, report R43926 (note 15), section "Legislative Activity." back back back

19. 22 U.S.C. § 6065(a) (requirements of a transition government) and § 6066 (requirements of a democratically elected government), sections 205 and 206 of Pub. L. 104-114, 2023 edition of the Code at govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title22/html/USCODE-2023-title22-chap69A-subchapII-sec6065.htm and https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2023-title22/html/USCODE-2023-title22-chap69A-subchapII-sec6066.htm back

20. H.R. 4847, Correcting Unfair Benefits for Aliens Act of 2016 (CUBA Act of 2016), introduced by Blake Farenthold and Henry Cuellar on March 23, 2016, section 3, text at govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-114hr4847ih/html/BILLS-114hr4847ih.htm back back back

21. H.R. 7521, 119th Congress, United States-Cuba Trade Act of 2026, introduced by James P. McGovern on February 12, 2026, section 2(e)(1) and (2)(B), text at govinfo, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr7521ih/html/BILLS-119hr7521ih.htm; status record (last action, referral to committees on February 12, 2026), https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/hr/BILLSTATUS-119hr7521.xml back

22. H.R. 3854, 103rd Congress, introduced by Mike Kopetski on February 10, 1994, text at govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-103hr3854ih/html/BILLS-103hr3854ih.htm back back

23. H.R. 5670, 109th Congress, introduced by Barney Frank on June 22, 2006, text at govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-109hr5670ih/html/BILLS-109hr5670ih.htm back back

24. S. 4983, Harry Reid Immigration Stabilization Act, 119th Congress, introduced by Bernie Moreno on July 15, 2026, sections 3 and 202, text at govinfo, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119s4983is/html/BILLS-119s4983is.htm, and status record (last action, July 15, 2026), https://www.govinfo.gov/bulkdata/BILLSTATUS/119/s/BILLSTATUS-119s4983.xml; office of Senator Bernie Moreno, "Moreno Reintroduces Harry Reid Bill to Eliminate Birthright Citizenship," press release of July 15, 2026, https://www.moreno.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/moreno-reintroduces-harry-reid-bill-to-eliminate-birthright-citizenship/ back back back

25. S. 4361, Border Act of 2024, introduced by Christopher Murphy on May 16, 2024, section 141 (new section 235B of the Immigration and Nationality Act), text at govinfo, https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-118s4361pcs/html/BILLS-118s4361pcs.htm; cloture vote of May 23, 2024 (roll call vote 182), according to the congress.gov status record (see note 13). back

26. H.R. 4393, Dignity for Immigrants while Guarding our Nation to Ignite and Deliver the American Dream Act of 2025, introduced by María Elvira Salazar on July 15, 2025, section 1503(e), text at govinfo. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/BILLS-119hr4393ih/html/BILLS-119hr4393ih.htm back

27. Barack Obama, "Statement on the Cuban Immigration Policy of the United States," January 12, 2017, Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: Barack Obama, 2016, book II, pp. 1701-1702. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PPP-2016-book2/pdf/PPP-2016-book2-doc-pg1701-2.pdf back

28. White House, Office of the Press Secretary, "On-the-Record Press Call on Cuba Policy Announcement," with Ben Rhodes and Jeh Johnson, January 12, 2017. https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2017/01/12/record-press-call-cuba-policy-announcement back

29. Government of the Republic of Cuba, "Declaración del Gobierno Revolucionario" [Statement of the Revolutionary Government], Havana, January 12, 2017, published by Cubadebate. Quotations are translated from Spanish. http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2017/01/12/declaracion-del-gobierno-revolucionario-4/ back back

30. Randy Alonso Falcón and others, "Cuba denuncia estímulo de los EEUU a salidas ilegales y desordenadas" [Cuba denounces U.S. encouragement of illegal and disorderly departures], Cubadebate, November 1, 2022 (summary of the state television program Mesa Redonda). Quotations are translated from Spanish. http://www.cubadebate.cu/noticias/2022/11/01/cuba-denuncia-estimulo-de-los-eeuu-a-salidas-ilegales-y-desordenadas-video/ back