David Lerner, Riptide Communications, 212.260.5000

New York – The Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) today issued the statement below in response to President Obama signing legislation that prohibits theOffice of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) from spending any money to enforce restrictions from 2004 on family travel to Cuba between now and October. The regulations, in place for 45 years in one form or another, were made more severe by the Bush administration in 2004. By only de-funding enforcement, the government left the regulations on the books, and it remains illegal for anyone to travel to Cuba.

The Obama administration has not lifted the ban on family travel but merely eased it for a few months. Because the laws are still on the books, anyone who travels to visit family in Cuba during this time would be in violation of the law and could, at some point, face penalties.  

Those who want to control where Americans can travel and what they can see should realize that after nearly 50 years their Cold War rhetoric is both tired and obsolete.  We live in a new and different world than we did in the early 1960’s and even then, the travel ban to Cuba was misguided, ineffective and unconstitutional.  The Cuban government has shown it can survive without the lifeline of the United States and is busy nurturing relationships with many other nations.  The travel embargo only serves to hurt American citizens by denying our right to travel where we want and to keep families apart.   

We hope the new Democratic leadership with President Obama at the helm will correct this immediately by first granting Cuban-Americans the right to visit their families under law and then allowing all Americans their constitutional and human right to freedom of travel and association.

The due process right to preserve family relationships is deeply rooted in the First and Fifth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, and international human rights law confirms that the preservation of family relationships is “implicit in the concept of ordered liberty.”

For a copy of CCR’s amicus brief on family travel restrictions, click here.

The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Founded in 1966 by attorneys who represented civil rights movements in the South, CCR is a non-profit legal and educational organization committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change. Visit www.ccrjustice.org.