The United States Customs and Border Protection (CBP) confirmed on Friday the arrival of more than 20,000 Cubans last month.
Excluding the current month's arrivals, which are not yet known, more than 128,000 Cuban immigrants will be registered by US authorities during 2023.
The data includes all individuals who have been inspected by the Border Patrol at any time in the United States and who have arrived by air, land, or sea, as well as those who have been deemed inadmissible for entry into the United States.
The operating statistics from November 2023 show this 20,076 citizens of Cuba were discovered by border control authorities. In the first two months of fiscal year 2024, 38,154 Cubans arrived in the United States.
CBP acknowledged in a statement that they face a serious challenge along the southwest border with Mexico, where the arrival of 242,418 immigrants was recorded in November alone.
The federal agency said it has increased its staffing and transportation resources to respond to the increase in migrant encounters along the southwest border and to move migrants from busy areas to locations where they can be processed efficiently and humanely.
“We investigate every person we encounter at the border, and those who are not authorized to remain are sent for deportation,” CBP said.
As of the end of November 2023, 297,000 Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan and Venezuelan immigrants arrived legally under the parole procedures announced in January this year.
Special, more than 62,000 Cubans, More than 120,000 Haitians, more than 54,000 Nicaraguans and more than 81,000 Venezuelans were screened and granted travel authorization under the so-called Humanitarian Parole, which requires sponsors in the United States.
CBP recalled that the CBP One™ mobile application is another legal way to apply for entry into the United States, assuring that more than 43,000 people were processed through it at ports of entry in November.
From January 2023 through the end of November, nearly 360,000 people successfully made appointments to report to a port of entry using CBP One™.
However, Cubans are not among the main nationalities whose appointments are made via the electronic application. Haitians, Mexicans and Venezuelans are the most frequent users of CBP One™.
The United States and Mexico announced this week that they will hold a high-level bilateral meeting to decide on new measures to address the migration crisis at their borders.
Also read: Mexico asks Biden for Washington to resume dialogue with Havana
Mexican President André Manuel López Obrador said Americans want Mexico to do more to block migrants in the south, on the border with Guatemala, and make their passage through the country more difficult, but assured that his government was not just making agreements with However, Mexico is hoping that the United States will start talks with Cuba and send more aid to the migrants' countries of origin.
“We will help as always,” the president said. “But it’s not just about containment,” he added, it’s also about cooperation and solving “political problems” that encourage migration.
He added that “Mexico is helping to reach agreements with the government of Venezuela,” against which some sanctions were recently lifted. “In this case, we also want the differences with Cuba to be addressed… I have already advised President Biden that a bilateral dialogue will be opened between Cuba and the United States.”