Captain's Quarters -

While is clearly is not the deterrent that returning them to their country of origin would be, a Cuban sent literally half way around the world with no extended family in the hemisphere is quite a big price to pay, beyond even what they already risk. It may not dramatically reduce the asylum seekers, but it does let both countries continue hardline rhetoric ("Those people WILL NOT be admitted here") without the heartless remedy of returning them to prison or death.

Still, it is true that given the alternatives, the asylum seekers would probably do worse than either the US or Austrialia...

Sounds like an awful waste of money to me. We're not the world's keepers. The more we fall into this trap, the more they will expect us to just support them no matter what. Sooner or later, they will just expect us to come make their country free, pay for their socialism, AND allow them to come to the US if they want. What a deal. When are THEY going to pay MY rent and groceries?

I'm an immigration attorney who handles asylum matters. This policy may be flat out illegal, as in contrary to the protections the Immigration and Nationality Act affords those claiming asylum who reach our shores. Even crazier is the notion that this would apply to Cubans, who are supposed to enjoy special status under the Cuban Adjustment Act once they set foot on USA soil (remember the controversy about the Cuban boat people sent home when the pier they reached wasn't attached to dry land?)

But since when has the Bush Administration been constrained by the mere language of statutes? It has been hopelessly hostile to legitimate asylum seekers since 9/11, virtually adopting James Sensenbrenner's numbskull "asylum seekers = terrorists" mentality. Did you know, for example, that an asylum seeker who provides virtually anything to a terrorist organization, even when acting under compulsion of summary execution if he refuses, is barred from all asylum relief under the Bush Administration's interpretation of the Sensenbrenner sponsored and passed "REAL-ID" Act?

The US-Aussie asylum seeker swap trial balloon is just another example of the Administration's contempt for the law it is supposed to enforce. But I'm sure Alberto Gonzales has it covered with an appropriate legal meme, er, memo.

Wait -- are any of the Cubans (or Hatians, for that matter) lefties? Can they pitch in the big leagues? I don't want us trading the next El Duque to Australia for an Indonesian who doesn't even know a baseball from a football. We do have to keep our priorities straight here.

This is absurd. Just plain absurd.

I believe that genuine asylum seekers - those who face persecution or death in their home countries - should be allowed into the United States subject to health and legal requirements. We don't want to let people with communicable diseases or homocidal tendencies loose in our country, after all (got enough of those without bringing in more).

This ties into our problem with illegal aliens. We've simply got to come up with a rational policy and system to deal with them. People want to come to America for various reasons. While we shouldn't just fling open the doors and say, "Come on it!" we also don't want to turn away people who want to become productive, law-abiding citizens or at least productive, law-abiding aliens.

Last I checked, the lamp is still lit beside the golden door. Let's work out what we want the cover charge to be for entry, not lock the door and put out the lamp.

This is amazing. Perhaps Bush will start to convert Miami's 'little Havana' into 'little Jakarta - Islamabad'.

You have to realize how lucky Americans are compared to Europeans and Australians. Our illegals generally all come from neighboring Christian countries. Look at the impact of immigraiton on our nation's demographics compared to Mohammadized England or Australia.

In some ways, this isn't surprising. Our illegal immigrants are a major asset that I'm certain most other Western nations would prefer over Arabs.

So what does Bush do? If this President-fool does anything more to protect me from terrorism, I might as well take a walk into Bagdahd with an American flag tatooed on my forehead Then again, perhaps bringing the Muslims to the US is step two. Step one involved invading Iran to foment Islamic extremism around the globe. Now Bush needs to bring them to our shores. Even moderates are going to start buying into the conspiracy theory that Bush loves terrorists as a way to extend his own power.

One point Captain missed- this is really bad policy and even inhumane when you look at how it affects Cuban and other South American immigrants. When these people arrive in the US, they find a support network and most likely friends and family to ease the transition, find employment, and start the process of integration. (When you live in California, you see it happen first hand.)
But immigrants from far-flung areas of the Pacific will have none of this, lessenning their chances of success. Criminal behavior and other anti-social activity will be much more common. In fact, you see exactly this happen to the Pacific Island immigrants in Salt Lake City, Utah over the last decade plus.