Obama ends 'wet foot, dry foot' Cuba policy: Cuban refugees who arrive in US without visas will no longer be given preferential treatment and granted residency

  • White House released a statement officially announcing the change Thursday 
  • The policy allows Cubans who get to the US by boat to be granted residency  
  • The change will be made after several months of talks between US and Cuba 
  • Scrapping the policy will be one of Barack Obama's final acts as President 
  • The change means there is now another thing Trump would have to take back 

By Liam Quinn For Dailymail.com

Published: 17:19 EST, 12 January 2017 | Updated: 10:55 EST, 13 January 2017

One of Barack Obama's final acts as president will be to end the 'wet foot, dry foot' policy that granted residency to Cubans who arrived in the US without visas.

The Obama administration announced it is doing away with the immigration policy effective immediately in a statement on Thursday night. 

'Today, the United States is taking important steps forward to normalize relations with Cuba and to bring greater consistency to our immigration policy,' Obama said in the statement.  

'By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries. 

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One of Barack Obama's final acts as president will be to end the 'wet foot, dry foot' policy that granted residency to Cubans who arrived in the US without visas. He is pictured giving his farewell address on January 10

'The Cuban government has agreed to accept the return of Cuban nationals who have been ordered removed, just as it has been accepting the return of migrants interdicted at sea.'

The President went on to say: 'The United States, a land of immigrants, has been enriched by the contributions of Cuban-Americans for more than a century.

'Sustaining that approach is the best way to ensure that Cubans can enjoy prosperity, pursue reforms, and determine their own destiny.' 

The move comes about a week before the President leaves office and is likely the last major change he will make to his overhaul of the US relationship with Cuba.

It also means there is one additional thing Trump would have to undo once he takes office, as he has threatened to do in regards to the Cuba changes.

'If Cuba is unwilling to make a better deal for the Cuban people, the Cuban/American people and the U.S. as a whole, I will terminate deal,' Trump tweeted in November. 

Obama has had a drastic impact on relations between the two countries. 

In December 2014 he announced the end to 'failed, Cold War-era policy' and over the two years since then the White House has worked to build a 'new course in relations' with the island nation.

The Obama administration is set to do away with the policy effective immediate, according to a senior administration official. A man is seen protesting the policy in Miami in 2006

The official said the US and Cuba have spent several months negotiating the policy change. Obama is pictured during a ceremony at the White House on Thursday

PRESIDENT OBAMA'S STATEMENT ON CUBAN IMMIGRATION 

Today, the United States is taking important steps forward to normalize relations with Cuba and to bring greater consistency to our immigration policy. 

The Department of Homeland Security is ending the so-called 'wet-foot/dry foot' policy, which was put in place more than twenty years ago and was designed for a different era. 

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 US law and enforcement priorities. 

By taking this step, we are treating Cuban migrants the same way we treat migrants from other countries. The Cuban government has agreed to accept the return of Cuban nationals who have been ordered removed, just as it has been accepting the return of migrants interdicted at sea.

Today, the Department of Homeland Security is also ending the Cuban Medical Professional Parole Program. 

The United States and Cuba are working together to combat diseases that endanger the health and lives of our people. By providing preferential treatment to Cuban medical personnel, the medical parole program contradicts those efforts, and risks harming the Cuban people. 

Cuban medical personnel will now be eligible to apply for asylum at U.S. embassies and consulates around the world, consistent with the procedures for all foreign nationals.

The United States, a land of immigrants, has been enriched by the contributions of Cuban-Americans for more than a century. 

Since I took office, we have put the Cuban-American community at the center of our policies. With this change we will continue to welcome Cubans as we welcome immigrants from other nations, consistent with our laws. 

During my Administration, we worked to improve the lives of the Cuban people - inside of Cuba - by providing them with greater access to resources, information and connectivity to the wider world. 

Sustaining that approach is the best way to ensure that Cubans can enjoy prosperity, pursue reforms, and determine their own destiny. 

As I said in Havana, the future of Cuba should be in the hands of the Cuban people. 

The President announced in July 2015 that both countries were reopening embassies after they had been shut for more than half a century.

'When the United States shuttered our embassy in 1961, I don't think anyone thought it would be more than half a century before it reopened,' Obama said at the time.

'Americans and Cubans alike are ready to move forward.'

The sentiment was echoed by Cuba's President, Raul Castro, who said in a statement: 'We want to develop a friendship between our two nations that is based on the equality of rights and the people's free will.'  

The policy change comes after it was reported earlier this year tens of thousands of Cubans fled their homeland since President Barack Obama announced the normalization of relations.

The policy was implemented as part of the Cuban Adjustment Act signed by president Bill Clinton in 1996. Pictured is a migrant boat on the shore in Miami 

It stated that anyone who was caught on a boat between the US and Cuba would either be returned to the island nation or sent elsewhere, however those who managed to make it to American shores would be granted legal residency. Pictured is a boat crossing the ocean to Florida

The rush to leave led to the highest number of people trying to make the dangerous sea crossing in the past eight years, according to internal Homeland Security Department documents obtained by The Associated Press in April.

'The perception is that the time is now. Given all that is going on, I could see how that perception would exist,' said Coast Guard Capt. Mark Gordon at the time.

The policy was implemented as part of the Cuban Adjustment Act signed by president Bill Clinton in 1996.

It stated that anyone who was caught on a boat between the US and Cuba would either be returned to the island nation or sent elsewhere, however those who managed to make it to American shores would be granted legal residency.  

The move comes about a week before the President leaves office. President Obama is pictured giving his end of year press conference on December 16 in the White House

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