Cuban Refugees in the United States

On October 3 1965 President Lyndon Johnson stated that those who seek refuge here in America will find it. President Johnson was replying to an earlier statement by Fidel Castro asserting that any person who wished to leave Cuba was free to do so. The Department of State was directed by the President to seek an agreement with the government of Cuba concerning the establishment of procedures for moving refugees from Cuba to the United States. The position of the United States was that any movement should be orderly in keeping with our laws and in order of priority. Once again the United States was demonstrating its traditional policy of open asylum and its consistent concern for the reuniting of families. President Johnson had stressed the fact that priority should be given to the movement of immediate relatives of Cubans already in the United States. In the Memorandum of Understanding worked out between the Swiss Embassy in Havana which represents the interests of the United States in Cuba and the Cuban Foreign Ministry it was stipulated that priorities would be defined as follows: parents of unmarried children under the age of 21 spouses unmarried children under the age of 21 and brothers and sisters under the age of 21. It was further agreed that the first priority would include other close relatives living in Cuba of persons now in the United States who reside in the same household as the immediate relatives when such inclusion is required for humanitarian considerations. These cases of close relationship were designated as Priority A cases for processing purposes. Cases of more distant family relationship became known as Priority B cases. (excerpt)