More Cubans immigrating to US by crossing into Texas from Mexico
MIAMI (CBSDFW.COM/AP) - U.S. border authorities encountered Cubans almost 32,400 times in March, according to figures recently released. That was roughly double the number in February and five times the number in October.
The increase coincided with Nicaragua's decision starting in November to stop requiring visas for Cubans to promote tourism after other countries, such as Panama and the Dominican Republic, began mandating them.
After flying to Nicaragua, Cubans travel by land to remote stretches of the U.S. border with Mexico - mainly in Del Rio, Texas and Yuma, Arizona - and generally turn themselves in to Border Patrol agents.
The Biden administration has been leaning on other governments to do more to stop migrants from reaching the U.S., most recently during a visit this week to Panama by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas. The actions of Nicaragua, a U.S. adversary, complicates that effort.
Cuban and U.S. officials will meet Thursday in Washington for immigration talks - the first in four years.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection stopped Cubans more than 79,800 times from October through March - more than double all of 2021 and five times more than all of 2020. Overall, the Border Patrol stopped migrants of all nationalities more than 209,000 times in March, the highest monthly mark in 22 years.
Cubans who cross the U.S. border illegally face little risk of being deported or expelled under a public health law that has been used to deny asylum to thousands of migrants of other nationalities on the grounds of slowing the spread of COVID-19.
Barely 500 Cubans stopped in March, or about 2%, were subject to Title 42 authority, named after a public health law. The Biden administration plans to end Title 42 authority on May 23.
Jorge Duany, director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, and other experts estimate the number of Cubans leaving could exceed other mass migrations from the island, including the Mariel boatlift of 1980, when more than 124,700 Cubans came to the U.S.
"There are several intertwined factors that have produced a perfect storm for the intensification of the Cuban exodus," Duany said.
For one, Cuba is experiencing its worst economic crisis in decades due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the tightening of U.S. sanctions.
Massive street protests on July 11, 2021, and the government's response also have played a role. Nongovernmental organizations have reported more than 1,400 arrests and 500 people sentenced to up to 30 years in prison for vandalism or sedition.
Havana has not said how many Cubans have left and has accused the United States of manipulating the situation and offering perks that encourage departure.
"What hurts? That there are young people who find that their future plans can't develop in the country and have to emigrate," Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said early this month. "There are people who want to prove themselves in another world, who want to show they aren't breaking with their country, that their aspiration is also to improve a little and later return."