Legion Troll
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More than 27,000 Cuban migrants have entered the US between January and September this year, up nearly 80 percent over the same period last year.
They’re making their way to the United States, trying to get there while migration policies still favor Cubans, although the White House says it has no plans to halt the so-called "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy that fast-tracks legal residency for Cubans on US territory.
Unlike in the past, when most Cuban migrants piled onto makeshift boats to reach US soil, this wave of migrants is taking a more circuitous and expensive route to avoid being caught and sent back. They typically fly to Ecuador, one of the few nations in the region with visa-free travel for Cubans. From there, they continue overland, through Colombia, across Central America, into Mexico, and finally across the US border. The trip can cost between $5,000 and $15,000.
Jhoan Rodríguez, sitting with his family on a piece of cardboard at the border crossing, says the threat of US immigration policy change was a big motivator for his travel. He says he's hopeful that renewed diplomatic relations with the US will have an impact on the island – he's just not willing to wait and see.
"I think the hope of all Cubans is that this path leads to a better life for the Cuban people so they don’t have to" leave for the US in the future, he says.
But for Levi Fontaine, who is trying to make his way to Hialeah, Fla. to reunite with his father, he's been thinking about this journey for a while.
“The decision to leave Cuba didn’t start now. It started 10 years ago,” Mr. Fontaine says, referring to Cuba as "a prison.”
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Amer...warm-Cuban-migrants-take-overland-route-north
