U.S. Ends ‘Wet Foot, Dry Foot’ Policy For Cuba Migrants
The United States has abruptly ended its longstanding ‘wet foot, dry foot’ policy that allowed Cubans who reached American soil to get automatic residency, while returning those intercepted at sea. It had been in force since 1995.
The policy shift, effective immediately, means Cubans who try to enter the U.S. without visas and do not claim asylum will be deported to Cuba. The Havana government, which has agreed to accept deportees, welcomed the move.
U.S. officials kept the measure under wraps to avoid a mass exodus of Cuban migrants ahead of its implementation. Even so, many Cubans had anticipated that changes were afoot after the U.S. began normalizing relations with Cuba in 2014, and the number of Cubans reaching the U.S. by land and sea has surged in the past two years.
Cubans en route to the U.S. were distraught to learn that their residency prospects had vanished overnight. “Imagine how I feel, after I spent six days and six nights running through rivers and jungles in the humidity,” Jose Enrique Manreza told Reuters. He sold his house and belongings in Cuba to fund his family’s journey and is now stranded in Mexico
Malta Pushes E.U. Deal With Libya
The premier of Malta, which recently assumed the rotating presidency of the European Union, called for the bloc urgently to agree a migration deal with Libya along the lines of the E.U.-Turkey agreement.
Prime Minister Joseph Muscat said the E.U. should expand its anti-trafficking mission into Libyan waters and revive with the country’s embattled U.N.-backed government the agreement of funds in exchange for migrant curbs that it made with former Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.
However, the United Nations refugee agency’s European director, Vincent Cochetel, has criticized the proposal. “The E.U.-Turkey agreement cannot be a blueprint for Libya,” he told members of the European Parliament. “First, there is no government in Libya, so let’s not even talk about.”
While the number of refugee boats from Turkey declined following last year’s deal, the total of crossings and deaths in the passage between north Africa and Italy has climbed.
A brief respite from the stormy winter weather saw 800 people rescued from smuggler boats off the coast of Libya on Thursday.
More Than 9,400 Afghans Returned From Iran and Pakistan
More than 9,400 undocumented Afghans returned or were deported from Iran and Pakistan in the first week of 2017, according to the U.N. migration agency.
Last year, more than 700,000 unregistered Afghans returned or were deported from the two countries. The rapid influx has raised concerns about Afghanistan’s capacity to absorb returnees.
“There’s still a lot of fighting here and it’s put a lot of strain on the services and economy,” Matthew Graydon, a U.N. spokesman in Afghanistan, told Reuters. “It’s going to take a concerted effort within the humanitarian community and the government to make sure that their reintegration needs are met.”
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- IRIN News: Boko Haram Still a Threat to Refugees in Cameroon
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