Biden administration officials will meet a Cuban delegation Thursday in Washington, D.C., to discuss a dramatic increase in migration from the island, a source with knowledge of the matter told the Miami Herald.
Cubans account for a large proportion of migrants recently reaching the U.S. border with Mexico, as more than 46,000 arrived just between October and February. The U.S. Coast Guard has also reported an increase in Cubans trying to reach U.S. shores.
But Cuban authorities have refused to accept deportations of its nationals from the U.S., Immigration and Customs Enforcement said.
“We regularly engage with Cuban officials on issues of importance to the U.S. government, such as human rights and migration,” a U.S. State Department spokesperson told the Herald in a statement. “We have seen a significant increase in irregular Cuban migrants to the United States, both via land and maritime routes. Cubans currently rank the third largest group arriving to the United States’ southwest border.”
The current exodus, which has quickly surpassed the numbers seen during the rafter crisis in 1994, when about 36,000 tried to reach the U.S. coast in a few weeks, rapidly grew with the lifting of visa requirements for Cubans by the government of Nicaragua, a close Cuba ally, last November.
The crisis has added tension to the already strained relations between the U.S. and Cuba and to the administration’s troubles addressing unprecedented levels of migrants at the southern border.
The Biden administration has maintained most sanctions on Havana imposed by its predecessor on the Cuban military and added more after the Cuban government’s crackdown on demonstrators calling for regime change last year.
A severe economic crisis and the increased repression after the protests are driving thousands of young Cubans to abandon the island, but the Cuban government has blamed U.S. policies instead.
Cuban officials have said the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, which allows Cubans to quickly apply for permanent residence if they are legally admitted and have lived in the U.S. for a year and a day, provides “incentives” for Cubans to leave the island. They also said that the U.S. is not honoring an agreement to issue 20,000 immigration visas to Cubans annually.
The U.S. Embassy in Havana said it would begin to process some immigration visas in May after a four and a half year hiatus, resulting from the closure of consular services in 2017. But the announcement will likely not significantly reduce the more than 90,000 immigration visas still pending, impacting Cuban families trying to reunite with relatives in the U.S.
The Thursday meeting in Washington, first reported by Reuters, will be the highest-level exchange between the two countries since President Joe Biden took office. Carlos Fernández de Cossío, the foreign affairs vice minister and frequent critic of the U.S., is expected to attend.
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