Story

How the Cuban Migration Story Is Changing

Independent taxi in Havana with the flags of the United States and Cuba. Image courtesy of 14ymedio. Cuba.

Independent taxi in Havana with the flags of the United States and Cuba. Image courtesy of 14ymedio. Cuba.

A Cuban family treks through a jungle for seven days on foot.

Another Cuban man gets stuck in Central America seeking freedom.

These are the stories of people NPR’s Radio Ambulante followed on their newly released two-part series covering a shift in Cuban migration to the United States.

For nearly 50 years, Cubans could show up to the United States and qualify for residency. But in January 2017, President Obama changed this by ending the wet foot, dry foot policy. Taking planes, buses and boats, some Cubans found themselves stuck in the middle of their journey and it changed everything for them.

Now, the path of some immigrants looks more like this:

We’ll discuss the fates of migrants who are searching for something better, and what this means for U.S.-Cuba relations.