Sitting in Varadero Beach in the northern coast of Cuba, Lazaro soaks the Caribbean sunshine while sipping on his Havana Club rum and coke. He is all smiles because despite being a wanted man by the FBI for defrauding US citizens of nearly 400K in a medicare scam, he has nothing to worry about cause in the immortal words of MC Hammer, the United States government “Can’t touch this!”

How did we get here? Here’s a Cuban crime story that takes place a long time ago in a not so far away tropical city — Miami.

Nov. 1981 Time Magazine decreed Miami as America’s Deadliest City

Miami’s geographical location makes it a perfect hub for the delivery and distribution of cocaine from South America into the United States. The competition for the drug market by Colombian drug organizations led to an increase in street violence in the late 70s and throughout the 1980s. Also, the 1980 Mariel Boatlift brought an unprecedented number of Cuban immigrants to the City in a six-month period; many of them were hardened criminals with a tendency to violence that would later become part of the Miami drug war. These Cuban hardened criminals called “Marielitos” found themselves at home in the violence-ridden streets of Miami and were a natural fit to served as enforcers of the Colombian drug cartels in what would come to be known as the “Cocaine Wars.” The combination of these factors helped to make Miami the deadliest city in America for most of the 80s — the decade of criminal dependency in great violence and low tech. The Cuban-involved violence that once impacted the 1980s saw a sharp decline in the mid to late 1990s. The changes in the crime patterns and trends in Miami led to the evolution of Cuban organized crime elements from the violent streets to white-collar crime.

So how did Miami break loose from the chains of violence? In 1982, President Reagan, in response to the mounting violence and rapid expanding drug cartels, created the South Florida Drug Task Force (SFDTF). The task force brought together the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Customs Service, Immigration, and Naturalization Services (INS), the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and U.S. Coast Guard. The various agencies formed a cohesive working unit tasked with assisting local and state law enforcement agencies in South Florida to combat the mounting drug-related violence. Initially, the SFDTF experienced success in interdicting six million pounds of marijuana and 100,000 pounds of cocaine and millions in US currency in their first four years. Their investigations also led to the apprehension of 15,000 criminals.

Eventually, the increased enforcement along the Florida Straits led cocaine cartels to shift their operations away from Florida and into the US Southern border. With the drug shipment gone so was the need for the violence necessary to protect the valuable cargo.

The need for violence rescinded but not the need for the criminals to make money. Out of this financial need, Cuban organized crime shifted strategies and dove head first into white collar crimes.

The 1996 changes to the Cuban Adjustment Act by the Clinton Administration guarantees Cubans who reach US soil a particular set of benefits not granted to most other immigrant group. The most valuable is a fast track to residency along with:

Welfare

Cubans: Eligible for welfare, food stamps, disability benefits and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. For first eight months, also eligible for resettlement cash — up to $180 a month for an individual in Florida — and Refugee Medical Assistance roughly equivalent to Medicaid coverage.

Others: Must show they will not need government assistance to obtain visas allowing them into the United States. Ineligible for federal benefits for first five years after arrival. Exceptions include those granted refugee status or political asylum. No public benefits for those in the country illegally.

Driver licenses

Cubans: Eligible in Florida and other states, even if they arrive without visas.

Others: Denied in Florida and most states to immigrants who are in the country illegally.

Travel

Cubans: Can return to the island and legally re-enter the United States without jeopardizing their status.

Others: Risk losing political asylum if they return to their home countries before becoming U.S. citizens.

But what do the additional benefits have to do with a transition to white collar crimes? Well, the unique status gives Cubans the opportunity to exploit US law to the tune of $2 billion since 1994, as reported in a 2015 investigation by the Sun Sentinel. According to the article, “Cuban crime rings are staging car accidents for insurance fraud, hijacking trucks, and selling their Medicare numbers to provide for their families in Cuba. They’re smuggling money from these illegal enterprises on charter flights to Cuba, paying mules to take cash back and wiring dollars through Western Union.”

Cubans make up less that 1 percent of the US population, but account for 41 percent of all federal health care fraud arrest nationwide!

The kicker is that once the criminals are caught, they can use their Cuban passports to flee to Cuba where they can hide in plain sight outside the jurisdictional reach of US law enforcement agencies. Yes, even with the historic changes brought by the Obama Administration in the last two years, extraditions are handled on a case by case basis and rarely results in the return of the criminal to US soil. So how many criminals are enjoying the new Caribbean paradise? The US State Department reports that 500 federal and 500 state fugitives are enjoying island living. Imagine, the ones that aren’t accounted for!

So does this mean all Cubans are bad for America? Of course not. Cubans have been some of the most successful immigrants due to their hard work ethic and their strong belief in the American Dream. Just look at Miami the Magic City that Cuban dreams built.

While some may focus on the opportunistic criminals, WeSee an opportunity to make our country better by modifying an outdated law that promotes criminality and bringing another piece to the homeland security enterprise puzzle.

WeSeeHSE: Seeing, Sharing, Informing