An Army base in Wisconsin is welcoming Afghan refugees. The same post helped Cubans fleeing the Castro regime in 1980 | News

As Afghans flee the Taliban regime and pour into the US, they end up in places like Fort McCoy in rural Wisconsin.

It is the current temporary shelter for up to 13,000 recently evacuated Afghan refugees, although army officials on the ground refused to disclose the actual number.

Marcos Andres Hernandez Calderon lives in nearby La Crosse, Wisconsin, and knows only too well their situation and how difficult it will be for this generation of refugees.

Calderon was one of thousands who came to the same Fort McCoy as a refugee from Fidel Castro’s Cuba more than 40 years ago and first came to South Florida by boat.

“You can see your country vanish in your eyes. You don’t know when you will return there, when you will see your family again,” Calderon told CNN, choking back tears as he pleaded for people to be able to do To move these refugees, shoes that he once wore. “So you feel what they feel. It’s not easy, you know. To be separated from your family, to come to a country where you just don’t know anything. I don’t know the language, I don’t know the people. You don’t know how people will like or dislike you. “

The conditions of the 1980 Cuban refugee influx, also known as the “Mariel Boatlift”, were different from what thousands of Afghan refugees are now fleeing. Named for the port of Mariel, west of Havana, these “Marielitos” left after Castro announced they could, in numbers that eventually grew to around 125,000, mostly by boat.

A number of them had been released from Cuban prisons and mental health facilities, resulting in an at times volatile population in places like Fort McCoy at the time.

“Living there was uh … it was something,” Calderon said with a laugh. “They were people from psychiatric hospitals, they were people from prison, they were people from the government, they were people from all over the world, and a lot of them didn’t like each other. Sometimes there was arguments, sometimes you danced, sometimes you heard music.”

It is a situation that he and other Cubans like him in rural Wisconsin see as different from what it is now.

“I don’t think they’ll be as scared as we are for asking for asylum because of the war there,” said Jose Lores, a 64-year-old former Cuban refugee who arrived in South Florida by boat in June 1980. before it was brought to Fort McCoy. “They know they have been followed, and so have you [the Taliban] would kill them. You will have to thank God for America because America opens the door to receive them. “

“Just because you don’t know them, they’re a different race, they’re a different color, it doesn’t matter. We’re all human and we all deserve a second chance,” said Norberto Gomez Mendez, a 63-year-old former Cuban refugee . “I believe that here in America you are opening the door to the whole world. America is made up of people who immigrate from all over the world.”

Learn the language

Based on their own experiences, these Cubans have simple advice for this new generation of refugees.

“Learn the language. And find help … from people who are willing,” Calderon told CNN. “Because it’s very, very, very difficult to come from another country where you can’t buy anything or ask people for directions or something, because you can’t communicate.”

Outside of the language, learning the general rules of a completely foreign environment can be a challenging process.

“You have to have someone with you who knows the situation,” said Gomez Mendez.

“To get around, to move, and to learn, they need constant guidance.”

It’s a guide that covers everything from finding a right job and education to avoiding hassle with law enforcement.

“Learn the law of the land,” said Lores. “Why? We came from a country where we only knew one law, the communist state law. That was it. When we got to America, we didn’t really learn the law until years later, and that’s one of the things we do we got in trouble. “

The consequences of a mistake can last a lifetime.

According to the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services Policy Manual, crimes such as murder or what is defined as a “serious crime” permanently prohibit someone from being naturalized.

In 1988, while living in Minnesota, Marcos Calderon said someone was selling cocaine in his home. “You caught me because the drugs were at my house,” Calderon said. He was eventually sentenced to federal prison, where he served roughly three years in prison and was released in 1992.

“Today I am being punished for this crime, I cannot return home,” said Calderon, who claimed he served his time and condemned the current dynamic as unfair. “We’re more American citizens than Cubans. We have the blood, we have the body, we have lived much longer in this country to own things, to travel, to choose. To be treated like an American, “said Calderon tearfully, visibly shaken.

A controlled substance violation qualifies for a temporary ban on applying for citizenship. Trafficking in a controlled substance is considered a “serious crime” that would normally result in a permanent ban, but any offense falling into this category prior to 1990 is exempt under the USCIS Policy Manual. However, the officer still has discretion to take into account the “gravity of the underlying crime” together with the applicant’s “current moral character”.

Without citizenship, Calderon and others in a similar situation must pay an annual fee of $ 410 to continually renew their permit to work in the United States. It’s a tricky web of government policies that these Cubans don’t want Afghans to ever have to deal with.

Concern and enthusiasm

The Pentagon said Friday that 25,600 Afghan evacuees are currently housed in eight military facilities in the United States, including Fort McCoy.

The influx of refugees has left some in the Wisconsin area with concern, from politicians to members of the public.

“If we let some people slip through who cause acts of terrorism that poison the entire operation, and that would be a travesty,” said US Senator Ron Johnson in late August on a tour of Fort McCoy, where he spoke about a thousand Afghans.

In nearby Sparta, Wisconsin, there is both concern and excitement about what the next steps for these refugees might be.

“One of the things I worry about is just general safety … of the citizens in our community, especially women and children, there is just one big cultural difference,” said Erica Culpitt, a 34-year-old Sparta resident.

Michelle Hamilton, who has lived in Sparta for about 30 years, said: “It’s a little scary because we don’t know them, but at the same time they’re people. They’re scared too.”

“I think we should help them because they are still human,” she added.

Many have helped by donating clothes, shoes, and everything they could. The effort was led by Team Rubicon along with a coalition of other nonprofits.

“We literally fly the plane as we build it, so every day is a repetition of how we receive, how we can keep doing this better and more efficiently,” Art delaCruz, CEO of Team Rubicon, told CNN. “We need to make sure that we can provide these foundations as they move forward.”

For Cubans a generation ago, they remember how they were treated and the tensions created by being transplanted to a new country – a new world.

Marcos Calderon said, “Be yourself. Be prepared. Learn the American way. Don’t make mistakes like many immigrants. Do good for others. Show the United States of America what they did for them … It was a good thing and they are grateful to be here and receive this help. “

The CNN Wire

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