Third in a series

Re “Now Small Has Clarity on Sanctuary Bid”

With the City Council scheduled to study and probably approve Culver City becoming a sanctuary city at next Monday evening’s meeting, Councilman Thomas Small is expected to be an eloquent advocate for sanctuary status.

He said recently that after meeting with two Bay Area state legislators, he is even more enthusiastic about embracing sanctuary.

In contrast to the present sustained outcry over delaying the arrival of refugees from six heavily Muslim countries, there was not a whisper of protest two months ago when President Obama abruptly ended a special Cuban refugee program.

As of Jan. 12, said Mr. Obama, desperate Cubans escaping the island oppression, arriving in small packed boats, not only would not be granted instant citizen status, they would not even be allowed into the country. They would be returned to Cuba.

“I remember when this happened,” said Mr. Small, “and there was not a huge outcry.

“As I understand it, and I am not an expert, that was a special dispensation for Cubans who fled their country. If you could make it to the United States, you had a special right to stay that was different from refugees from other countries.”

With that background, Mr. Small offered his perspective.

He sees stoppage of the special right “as a move on Obama’s part toward more of a normalization with Cuba.

“Where that is going to go under the current administration, where anything is going to go under President Trump, I have no idea,” Mr. Small said.