The Cuban government has praised President Barack Obama for invalidating the immigration policy known as “Wet Foot/Dry Foot,” which allowed Cuban refugees to stay legally in the U.S. upon arrival, but demanded he also work to repeal the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966, which the communists refer to as the “Law of Murder.”
So far this fiscal year, which ends on September 30, more than 44,000 visa-less Cuban asylum-seekers have reached the U.S., according to Customs and Border Protection data provided to Agencia EFE. The current level is more than five times the number of Cubans who reached the U.S. in all of 2011, when fewer than 8,000 visa-less Cubans entered the U.S.
Two foreign airline companies have begun offering steep discounts to Cuban migrants–set for border crossing into western Texas–as thousands rush to the United States in the aftermath of thawing relations with the communist island. Children under age 11 fly free of charge.
As the United States and Cuba continue the diplomatic thawing process undertaken by the Obama Administration, thousands of migrants are expected to cross into El Paso amid fears that the preferential status for the island-born immigrants could soon cease.
The Obama administration has not discouraged Central American countries from airlifting thousands of Cuban migrants to the U.S.-Mexico border, according to a senior State Department official.
The city of Laredo, Texas, is becoming a turnstile for Cubans seeking asylum in the U.S. Hundreds of Cuban refugees coming from Central America to Mexico are being passed through into Texas will little, if any, screening. Hispanics in South Texas appear to be resenting the special treatment of the Cubans.
Thousands of Cuban refugees are stranded in Costa Rica and are now being moved into Mexico so they can illegally cross into the United States. Once on American soil, Cubans receive automatic immigration status adjustment and full welfare benefits. Texas is becoming the epicenter of this influx of Cubans.
More than a year after President Obama announced a concessions package to the rogue Raúl Castro regime in Havana, the usual cabal of left-wing voices have united against political asylum for Cuban refugees. Unlike in the past half-century, however, they have ensnared some conservatives, who now believe that the problem lies in Cuban refugees seeking freedom.
As many as 40,000 Cubans seeking asylum could cross the southern U.S. border in the coming months, Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) tells local KGBT-TV.
The more than 8,000 Cuban refugees stranded in Costa Rica after Castro ally Nicaragua rejected their legal visas will fly over Nicaragua to El Salvador to commence their voyage to the United States, a coalition of Central American nations announced this week.
When most Americans think of large numbers of Cuban migrants leaving the island nation, they picture rafts and boats headed towards the Florida Keys. However, this new exodus finds hundreds of Cubans heading to Central America and joining those following the same migration routes heading towards the U.S.-Mexico border.
