Cubans amass at Mexico-Texas border after 'wet foot/dry foot' change

Rick Jervis | USA TODAY

NUEVO LAREDO, Mexico — Joel Gonzalez was midway across the narrow pedestrian bridge connecting the U.S. and Mexico at this border crossing when U.S. border guards waved him back to Mexico.

A U.S. policy that for decades awarded Cubans like Gonzalez, 31, automatic amnesty was repealed the day before. His dream of a new life in America instantly vanished.

“You feel this weight in your chest,” he said, recalling that day last week. “You have these ideas about the future, all these thoughts in your head. To get so close and have your dream of freedom taken from you is very hard.”

Gonzalez and dozens of other Cubans have been amassing at this crossing since the Obama administration ended the so-called “wet foot/dry foot” policy on Jan. 12. The rule, created by President Clinton in 1995, allowed most Cubans who touched U.S. soil to stay in the country, while those intercepted at sea were returned to Cuba. Those who remained in the U.S. for one year were allowed to apply for legal permanent residence.

Cuban officials have long denounced the rule, saying it incentivizes Cubans to leave the communist island. Other critics say while the policy was put in place to help Cubans fleeing political persecution, many instead used it for economic betterment in recent years.

The new policy forces Cubans to apply for visas in their home country or face deportation if they enter illegally, just like migrants from other countries. About 20,000 U.S. visas are awarded in Cuba each year.

Despite the shift, Cubans continue to arrive at this border crossing, just across the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas. Around 120 Cubans are now in this Mexican border town, according to local estimates, staying at churches or in migrant centers. Many, like Gonzalez, say they won't leave.

"In Cuba, if you think differently from the system, you’re marked," said Gonzalez, a systems engineer. "You don't get jobs, you don’t get opportunity. If you're against the system, there’s no way to survive."

The repeal of wet foot/dry foot is the latest in a series of efforts by President Obama, beginning in late 2014, to end five decades of isolation with Cuba. President-elect Donald Trump, however, has said he may renegotiate the accords.

Sensing a change was imminent as relations warmed between Washington and Havana, thousands of Cubans rushed to enter the U.S. last year. Overall, 56,406 Cubans entered the U.S. via ports of entry in fiscal year 2016, more than double the number who arrived in 2014, according to a study by the Pew Research Center.

The change in U.S. policy will likely improve relations between the two countries and could force Cuban officials to focus on improving conditions, rather than simply allowing the disaffected to flee, said Ted Piccone, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who studies Cuba.

“The safety valve – of exporting unhappy Cubans who could cause trouble – just got smaller,” he said.

Some Cubans at Nuevo Laredo said they hoped Trump would reverse the repeal. But that may be wishful thinking, Piccone said, given Trump’s tough stance on illegal immigration.

Some arriving here now left the island months ago, well before the policy change. Each morning, they gather at the intersection of Avenida 15 de Julio and Avenida Vincente Guerrero, within sight of the U.S., sharing the latest news and debating the next move.

Idania Laurencio Fernandez, 44, left Cuba in mid-October for the small South American country of Guyana. From there, she traveled to Brazil, trekked through jungles, sailed up the Amazon River, traveled across nine countries in Central and South America and spent 12 days in an immigration detention center in Tapachula, Mexico, before being able to leave for Nuevo Laredo.

She arrived Jan. 13, the day after the policy was repealed. She said she planned to stay until something changes, fearing repercussions if she returned to Cuba. “We can’t go back,” Fernandez said. “I’m persona non grata in Cuba.”

Fernandez said she hopes her predicament sheds light on what she described as a worsening situation on the island, where the average worker earns $20 a month and dissension isn't tolerated. “Obama doesn’t understand,” she said. “He let himself be fooled. The Cubans in Cuba know the reality.”

As a worker in the service industry in Varadero, one of Cuba’s most popular tourist beach destinations, Manuel Reyes, 37, said he was earning a decent living. But the island's lack of basic rights and stagnant economic growth was suffocating, he said. He was denied visas to the U.S. and Canada and tried leaving Cuba three times on homemade rafts but was forced back each time due to mechanical failures.

Finally gaining a Mexico visa, he flew to Monterrey on Jan. 12 and arrived at the Nuevo Laredo border crossing early the next morning. Dreams of joining friends in Miami or Las Vegas came to an abrupt end when he learned of the changed policy.

Like most others gathered here, Reyes said he’s not leaving. He sleeps at a local church and prays each day for a reversal in U.S. policy.

“We’re going to stay firm. We have a lot of faith,” he said. “And there are many more Cubans coming.”