Marco Rubio's parents requested permanent residency in the United States
in May of 1956, nearly three years before Fidel Castro took power.
Marco Rubio has spent the last week or so in full-time spin mode, making the case that even though his parents left Cuba before Fidel Castro came to power, they had always intended to make their stay in the United States temporary. Once Castro took control of Cuba,
Rubio says, his parents discovered that they would never be able to return to their homeland, making him the "son of exiles" from Castro's Cuba.
Oops:
WASHINGTON — On May 18, 1956, Mario and Oriales Rubio walked into the American Consulate in Havana and applied for immigrant visas. The form asked how long they intended to stay in the United States.
"Permanently," Mr. Rubio answered.
So contrary to Rubio's claim, his parents decided to leave Cuba permanently before Fidel Castro came to power. Their stay was not intended to be temporary. Obviously there's nothing wrong his family's decision to flee the right-wing rule of Fulgencio Batista—immigrant families like the Rubios are part of what makes America great—but it's simply not true to claim that they fled the Communist dictatorship of Fidel Castro. Marco Rubio's "son of exiles" myth was a mirage.