Fleeing to U.S., Cubans’ First Stop Is Often Mexico

From The New York Times:

Cubans are migrating to the United States in the greatest numbers in over a decade, and for most of them the new way to get north is first to head west — to Mexico — in a convoluted route that avoids the United States Coast Guard.

[U]nlike Mexicans, Central Americans and others heading to the southwestern border of the United States, the Cubans do not have to sneak across. They just walk right up to United States authorities at the border, benefiting from lax Mexican enforcement and relying on Washington’s “wet foot, dry foot” policy, which gives them the ability to become permanent residents if they can reach United States soil.

Typically, the Cuban migrants are interviewed by agents who check their stories and whatever documentation they can produce, and listen closely for distinctive Cuban accents. Then, if no criminal records are found, the Cubans are generally allowed into the country. After a year, they gain permanent resident status.

Some Mexicans are even getting ideas from the Cubans. A trade is developing in Cuban identity documents, and some savvy Mexican migrants are now practicing Cuban accents and rehearsing dramatic stories they intend to tell United States Border Patrol agents about the horrors they have suffered in Havana.