Nuevo Laredo Mayor to Regularize the Situation of Cubans Stranded in the City

Nuevo Laredo Mayor to Regularize the Situation of Cubans Stranded in the
City

14ymedio, Havana, 4 April 2017 — Cubans living in the Mexican city of
Nuevo Laredo, who were stranded after the United States ended the Wet
foot/Dry Foot policy that allowed Cubans who set foot on US soil to
stay, may now apply for political asylum to regularize their situation
in the country, according to the city's mayor, Enrique Rivas Cueller,
who spoke on Nuevo Laredo TV.

"We had a meeting where we had people from immigration, people from the
state … all the actors from the federal government, to be able to give
them a procedure. They are going to submit a request for political
asylum and achieve their legal stay in the country," explained Rivas
Cuellar.

The municipal authorities estimate that there are currently between 500
and 1,000 Cuban migrants who could not continue their trip to the United
States after the end of the previous US immigration policy.

The long stay in Nuevo Laredo to which migrants have been subjected has
been a natural step for their integration into the city.

The municipal government will conduct a census of the Cubans in the city
and, according to declarations of Rivas Cuellar in the newspaper
Milenio, "many of them are participating in the economic activity, some
have already developed some commerce," which is why regulation is necessary.

"Even if they want to go to another city in the country where they
intend to work or live, it will support them," said the mayor, who said
that many Cubans "are already regularizing themselves."

The measure that the authorities of Nuevo Laredo intend to carry out is
unprecedented in Mexican migration policy, as of 12 January of this year
when they stopped issuing transit permits for Cuban migrants to transit
through the country for 20 days as a legal way to reach the United States.

In its place, the Mexican Government has since passed the Immigration
Law and, as of 18 February, 680 Cuban migrants found to be in different
parts of Cuba illegally were repatriated to Cuba.

Author 14ymedio
Posted on April 6, 2017


Source: Nuevo Laredo Mayor to Regularize the Situation of Cubans
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