Obama Moves to End Cuban Exodus, Killing Hopes for a New Life

The communist regime in Cuba is praising President Barack Obama after he ended the automatic legal residency for any Cuban immigrant who makes it to U.S. soil.

The repeal of the "wet foot, dry foot" policy went into effect Thursday, meaning that many Cubans who have escaped to freedom in the U.S. over the past few years will now be sent back to Cuba.

Tens of thousands of Cubans have been flocking to the U.S. since the 2014 announcement of re-established diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Cubans had feared the end of the special immigration status bestowed during the Cold War. Consequently, about 100,000 left for the United States, many flooding overland through South and Central America and Mexico.

"Effective immediately, Cuban nationals who attempt to enter the United States illegally and do not qualify for humanitarian relief will be subject to removal, consistent with U.S. law and enforcement priorities," Obama said in a statement.

Obama is using an administrative rule change to end the policy. President-elect Donald Trump could undo that rule after becoming president next week.

While Trump has criticized Obama's moves to improve relations with Cuba, ending a policy that has allowed hundreds of thousands of people to come to the United States without a visa also aligns with Trump's commitment to tough immigration policies.

Anti-Castro Cubans in Miami were mixed in their responses, with some expressing anger at Obama for what they called another betrayal of ordinary Cubans. Others said they thought the measure would increase pressure for change in Cuba.

"People who can't leave, they could create internal problems for the regime," said Jorge Gutierrez, an 80-year-old veteran of the Bay of Pigs invasion. But he added, "From the humanitarian point of view, it's taking away the possibility of a better future from the people who are struggling in Cuba."

And Rep. Illeana Ros-Lehtinen, a Florida Republican who emigrated from Cuba as a child, decried the elimination of the medical parole programs, calling it a "foolhardy concession to a regime that sends its doctors to foreign nations in a modern-day indentured servitude."