What makes you think they're criminals? What makes you think they're on welfare?


 Don't you love it when you have a couple days to kill so you rent a car and run off to the Keys?  (What?  that doesn't happen to you?)  

So here we were.  BA and I were in Fort Lauderdale for a cruise.  We flew in a bit early, because why the hell not.  Fort Lauderdale was windy and well, just iffy.  So fuck this place!  Florida Keys here we come!  We ended up on Islamorada, Hog Heaven to be specific, and that's really where I want this story to start. 

At the end of the docks was an old Cuban refugee boat.  it was hard to imagine it ever had a purpose.  I suppose it was left there because it made a great conversation piece.  Rusty, covered in a makeshift flotation of empty plastic bottles, and duct tape, a tiny outboard motor.  It reeked of desperation.  

A family of native Cubans actually stopped by to look and talk.  Well I had to butt in.  If anyone knows about Cuba it would be these folks.  They were lucky.  They came here legally.  Or so they told me.  They talked about the oppression of Cuba.  If you're caught with a nongovernment cellphone, you're killed.  God forbid you learn about the world outside the island.  Imagine if your opinions weren't in line with your government.  Who knows what might happen?  Maybe democracy!  (oh the horror).  Imagine if you were caught with this "boat"?  Death for sure.  So how bad must it be that people risk their lives traversing 90 miles of open ocean in that ramshackle piece of trash.  I just can't call it a boat!  

Now I have no statistics.  I have no real way of knowing who these people are, but I've always been skeptical of people who sneer and call them criminals.  Isn't it more likely they're just poor people trying to make a better life for their families?   When I ask that question, these same people say, well, then they're collecting welfare and we can't afford to take care of everyone.  Can illegals even get welfare?  People talk a lot but there's never anything to back up their claims.  The other side of the coin tells me that they stay out of trouble or else they'll be deported.  And they damn well can't go back there.  They'll be killed!  Whatever the truth is, i have empathy.  We brag about this being the land of opportunity.  If people want to come here and work and be free, I don't mind a little christian charity.  I also know becoming a citizen is expensive and time consuming.  One might rather be illegal and alive.  

Anyway, awesome people that Cuban family.  We laughed and carried on for a bit.  The daughter was born here.  We high fived.  First generation is the best generation!  Am I right!  Did I mention my mother is an immigrant.  Yes, she's legal.  Who vetted her?  My father.  She could have been a gypsy for cripes sakes!  Gypsy = criminal, and all we have is good 'ol Dad trusting her to set foot on our sacred soils of the USofA. Don't get me wrong, he was no dummy, but why should you all trust him? 

So what I want to say is, don't judge.  You have no idea. 

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