Mexico to Give Residency Status to 588 Cubans Stranded on US Border

Mexico’s National Institute of Migration said that Mexico will grant residency permits to 588 Cubans stranded in the north of the country as a result of the decision of the previous US administration to end the "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) – Mexico will grant residency permits to 588 Cubans stranded in the north of the country as a result of the decision of the previous US administration to end the "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, Mexico’s National Institute of Migration (INM) said.

"The INM has provided all facilities for this group of foreigners of Cuban origin to obtain their residency status in the country for humanitarian reasons," INM said in a Friday statement, as quoted by the Mexican Radio Formula, adding that the permits will not constitute political asylum or refugee status because the Cubans "do not face persecution of any kind."

The residency permits will initially be granted to 273 out of the total 588 eligible Cubans, currently in the city of Nuevo Laredo in Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, on the border with the United States, to allow them to carry out their paid work, according to INM.

In January, former US president Barack Obama ordered the US Department of Homeland Security to end the "wet-foot, dry foot" policy and to remove unauthorized Cuban nationals from the United States.

The policy had allowed Cubans who managed to reach US soil to remain in the country while those who were intercepted at sea were deported.

More than 56,000 Cubans made it to the United States in 2016, double the number two years ago, when Obama restored diplomatic ties with Cuba.