Coast guard attributes spike to unfounded fear of an end to ‘wet-foot-dry foot policy’, which often shields Cubans from deportation if they reach US shores

This article is more than 5 years old

This article is more than 5 years old

The number of Cuban migrants attempting to reach the US in rafts has surged since the two countries announced they would restore diplomatic relations after 50 years, coast guard officials said on Monday.

The coast guard says the significant increase in the number of Cuban migrants has been prompted by rumors that an abrupt end is coming as soon as 15 January to the so-called wet foot-dry foot policy that usually shields Cubans from deportation if they reach US shores.

But US officials say there are no immediate plans to change the policy. Congress would have to change the Cuban Adjustment Act or the US trade embargo.

“There is no change to immigration law. This rumor is just putting people in harm’s way. The rumors are just not true,” said Lieutenant Commander Gabe Somma, a spokesman for the coast guard’s seventh district in Miami.

US authorities have captured, intercepted or chased away 421 Cubans since 17 December, Somma said.

In all of December 2013, the total number of Cuban migrants who encountered US law enforcement while trying to reach the US was nearly half that – just 222.

And just before the historic announcement of the US-Cuba detente – from 1 December to 16 December – only 132 Cubans were kept from reaching US shores.

Some Cubans recently told the Associated Press they were thinking about speeding up their plans to get to the US, but others cautioned against attempting the dangerous crossing when it’s still unclear how US law may change.

“I’m crazy to leave, but I’m not going to throw myself into the sea, I’m not going to do it,” Juan Moreno, 34, said in Havana on Monday. “Whoever does that is crazy.”

The overall number of migrants making risky sea voyages toward US shores from the Caribbean, including Cuba and other countries, has spiked in the past year. According to the coast guard, in the fiscal year that ended 30 September, US authorities captured, intercepted or chased away at least 5,585 Haitians, 3,940 Cubans and hundreds from the Dominican Republic and other Caribbean countries attempting to sneak into the country.

For nearly 50 years, Cubans have had a unique privilege. The Cuban Adjustment Act has given them a virtually guaranteed path to legal residency and eventual citizenship. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of Cubans have taken perilous raft trips to Florida and land journeys through Central America and Mexico with the knowledge that they would not be deported.

Cubans caught at sea, though, are usually returned home.

Now that the US and Cuba are negotiating a return to full diplomatic relations, many Cubans wonder how long wet foot-dry foot will continue.

Coast guard officials stopped short of calling the recent surge a mass migration, but they said they are concerned about the increased numbers of migrants.

“At one point last week, we had about 120 Cuban migrants on coast guard cutter decks awaiting repatriation,” Somma said.

Some coast guard vessels and aircraft have been pulled from other missions in the region to address the increased migrant traffic in the waters off Florida, Somma said.