Swelling numbers of Cuban emigrants apprehended at sea

The number of Cubans intercepted at sea while trying to reach the United States is at its highest level since the 1994 exodus sanctioned by President Castro. As of Friday, 2,683 Cubans had been intercepted at sea this year, nearly double the number for all of 2004.

The high number of apprehensions are generating tensions around the so-called “wet foot, dry foot” policy, which applies to no immigrant group but Cubans, and which allows Cubans without visas to stay in the U.S. if they reach U.S. soil, but turns back anyone who is caught at sea.

For a more detailed story, a New York Times article is here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/18/national/18cubans.html

The policy stands in marked contrast to U.S. policy toward all other migrants, for whom exclusion is the rule to which there are few exceptions (even after reaching U.S. soil). But it is consistent with broader U.S. immigration policy in the sense that it deploys a somewhat irrational and artificial rule as a means of “border patrolling,” with fatal consequences for migrants.

-jmc