Cuban Immigration to US Nearly Doubles Since Obama Restores Ties

More than 56,000 Cuban exiles entered the United States in 2016, nearly double the number since Obama launched a rapprochement with the Caribbean island nation.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — More than 56,000 Cuban exiles entered the United States in 2016, nearly double the number since outgoing US President Barack Obama launched a rapprochement with the Caribbean island nation two years ago, according to a report by the PEW Research Center.

"The recent rise in the number of Cubans entering the country began in the months immediately following Obama’s December 2014 announcement that the United States would renew ties with Cuba," a release explaining the report said on Friday.

Overall, 56,406 Cubans entered the United States in 2016, compared with 24,278 in 2014, the report noted.

Also on Friday, Obama ended a policy in which Cubans entering the United States illegally were allowed to remain and eventually apply for citizenship, provided they set foot on US soil. Cubans intercepted at sea were sent back.

Under the new policy, all Cubans will be treated like other groups of undocumented aliens, subject to deportation.

The US severed ties with Cuba and imposed an economic embargo shortly after the late Fidel Castro took control of the island during a 1959 communist revolution.  The embargo is still in effect.