Glossary

The name given to the anti-government protests of July 11, 2021 in Cuba, which Human Rights Watch (HRW) described as the largest demonstrations across the country since the 1959 revolution. According to HRW, citing Cuban human rights groups, more than 1,400 people were detained, and in July 2022 more than 700 were still in prison; confirmed convictions exceeded 380.

The Great ExodusHuman Rights Watch, "Prison or Exile: Cuba's Systematic Repression of July 2021 Demonstrators" (July 11, 2022)

The day President Barack Obama announced a change of course in the relationship with Cuba: he ordered talks to restore diplomatic relations, broken since January 1961, and to reopen an embassy in Havana. The announcement included the release of American Alan Gross and a prisoner exchange.

Wet Foot, Dry FootThe End of "Wet Foot, Dry Foot"White House, "Statement by the President on Cuba Policy Changes" (December 17, 2014)

The process by which a person already inside the United States obtains permanent residence without leaving the country to seek a visa at a consulate. The general route, section 245(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), requires having been "inspected and admitted or paroled," being admissible and having an immigrant visa available. The Cuban Adjustment Act is a special route, enacted "notwithstanding" the restrictions of section 245(c), that does not require a relative or an employer to sponsor the application.

How the Adjustment Act Works TodayWhat the Cuban Adjustment Act IsINA § 245(a), 8 U.S.C. § 1255(a)

A category in the federal regulations for a person who applies for admission at a port of entry, who transits through one, or who is interdicted in international or U.S. waters and brought into the country by any means. A person remains an arriving alien even if granted parole, and even after that parole ends or is revoked. The category matters in the debate over Cubans who entered through a border port and over which authority decides their application for residence.

Parole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220AThe Cuban Adjustment Act in the Courts8 C.F.R. § 1.2 (definition of "arriving alien")

Protection the United States grants to a person who is in the country or arrives at it and shows that they meet the legal definition of a refugee: persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. With exceptions, the application must be filed within one year of arrival. The Cuban Adjustment Act, by contrast, does not require proof of persecution.

How the Adjustment Act Works TodayThe Debate over the Cuban Adjustment ActINA § 208, 8 U.S.C. § 1158

The highest administrative body that interprets and applies the immigration laws. It is part of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) in the Department of Justice and decides appeals from immigration judges' decisions, almost always in writing. Its decisions published as precedent, such as Matter of Cabrera-Fernandez (2023) on the I-220A, bind immigration judges and Department of Homeland Security (DHS) personnel unless the Board itself or the Attorney General modifies them.

The Cuban Adjustment Act in the CourtsParole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220A8 C.F.R. § 1003.1 (Board of Immigration Appeals)

A Cuban port from which thousands of people left in the fall of 1965. On September 28, Fidel Castro announced that he would let anyone who wished to go to the United States leave, and that exiles could pick up their relatives there starting October 10. Cuba closed those departures on November 4, and the crisis led to the agreement that opened the way for the Freedom Flights.

Camarioca and the Freedom FlightsThe Birth of the Cuban Adjustment ActU.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXII, document 308, "Editorial Note"

An agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that controls the borders and ports of entry; the Border Patrol is part of it. Its officers inspect arriving travelers and decide at the border on admission or parole. The law also charges it, in coordination with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), with enforcing and administering the immigration laws.

The Great ExodusHumanitarian Parole6 U.S.C. § 211 (creation of U.S. Customs and Border Protection)

A CBP mobile application launched in October 2020. Starting in January 2023 it allowed migrants without entry documents who were in central and northern Mexico to submit their information in advance and request an appointment at eight ports of entry on the southwest border, where they were inspected. The appointment function ended in January 2025, and in March 2025 the app was renamed CBP Home. For the Cuban Adjustment Act, what matters is the document with which each person left the border station: parole meets the entry requirement; a release on an I-220A, according to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA), does not.

The Great ExodusParole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220ACRS, "The CBP Home Mobile Application and 'Self-Departure'," IF13030 (June 12, 2025)

A program created in 2007 so that Cubans with an approved family petition could come to the United States on parole instead of waiting on the island for a visa to become available. In August 2023, new applications began to be initiated with the online Form I-134A. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated it by a notice of December 15, 2025: unexpired paroles ended on January 14, 2026, except for the exceptions the notice set.

Humanitarian ParoleClosed Doors, Law Still StandingDHS, "Termination of Family Reunification Parole Processes for Colombians, Cubans, Ecuadorians, Guatemalans, Haitians, Hondurans, and Salvadorans," 90 Fed. Reg. 58032 (December 15, 2025)

A set of Department of Homeland Security (DHS) parole processes for nationals of Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela and their immediate family members. A supporter in the United States filed Form I-134A and, if the beneficiary received travel authorization, the beneficiary could present at an interior port of entry to request discretionary parole. DHS terminated the programs on March 25, 2025 and set April 24, 2025 as the end of unexpired paroles, absent an individual determination to the contrary.

Humanitarian ParoleClosed Doors, Law Still StandingParole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220ADHS, "Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans," 90 Fed. Reg. 13611 (March 25, 2025)

A program begun in 2006 that allowed Cuban doctors and other health personnel sent to work in third countries to request parole to enter the United States. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), more than 7,000 professionals had been approved by January 2016. The administration of Barack Obama ended it in January 2017, together with the "wet foot, dry foot" policy.

Wet Foot, Dry FootThe End of "Wet Foot, Dry Foot"CRS, "Cuba: U.S. Policy in the 115th Congress," R44822 (updated January 15, 2019)

A federal law signed on November 2, 1966 (Public Law 89-732). It allows a native or citizen of Cuba who was inspected and admitted or paroled into the United States after January 1, 1959, and who has been in the country for the required time (today one year), to apply for permanent residence without a relative or an employer to sponsor them. Approval is discretionary and the applicant must be admissible. The spouse and children who live with the applicant may also benefit even if they are not Cuban.

What the Cuban Adjustment Act IsThe Text of the Cuban Adjustment ActThe Birth of the Cuban Adjustment ActPublic Law 89-732, 80 Stat. 1161 (November 2, 1966)

A federal government program that gave Cuban exiles financial assistance, medical care, food, education and resettlement in other cities. The Migration and Refugee Assistance Act of 1962, passed under the administration of John F. Kennedy, authorized that aid. According to the National Park Service, the federal government spent $957 million on the program through 1974, the year it began to wind it down and closed its Miami center in the Freedom Tower.

The First ExileCamarioca and the Freedom FlightsNational Park Service, "Freedom Tower, Florida"

The popular name for the lottery through which the United States sought to meet the annual minimum of 20,000 Cuban emigrants agreed to in 1994. Registrations were held in fiscal years 1994, 1996 and 1998, with 189,000, 433,000 and 541,000 eligible registrants. Cubans aged 18 to 55 who met two of three conditions (completed secondary education, at least three years of work experience or relatives in the United States) could take part, and those selected traveled on parole.

The Rafter CrisisWet Foot, Dry FootCRS, "Cuban Migration to the United States: Policy and Trends," R40566 (June 2, 2009)

A category created in 1980, during the Mariel exodus, for Cubans and Haitians who did not qualify as asylees: the administration of Jimmy Carter received them on parole under the label Cuban/Haitian Entrant (Status Pending). The Refugee Education Assistance Act of 1980 defined them so that they could receive benefits similar to those of refugees, and the regulation (8 C.F.R. § 212.5(h)) treats as an entrant, with few exceptions, every Cuban or Haitian who has been paroled since October 10, 1980. The category still has effects: the 2025 reconciliation law (Public Law 119-21) kept entrants among the noncitizens with access to Medicaid from October 1, 2026.

The Mariel ExodusAmendments and Related LawsCRS, "Cuban Migration to the United States: Policy and Trends," R40566 (June 2, 2009)

Entry into the United States without passing an immigration officer's inspection, generally by crossing the border outside a port of entry. The law makes inadmissible a person who is "present in the United States without being admitted or paroled." An entry of this kind does not by itself meet the requirement of the Cuban Adjustment Act, which calls for admission or parole; that is why it matters what document the person left government custody with.

Parole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220AThe Cuban Adjustment Act in the CourtsINA § 212(a)(6)(A)(i), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(6)(A)(i)

An agency of the Department of Justice created on January 9, 1983 that brings together the immigration courts and the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). It runs the deportation (removal) proceedings. Its creation separated immigration judges from the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), the agency in charge of enforcing the law.

The Cuban Adjustment Act in the CourtsParole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220AExecutive Office for Immigration Review, "About the Office"

An airlift paid for by the United States that took Cubans out from Varadero under the memorandum of understanding with Cuba of November 1965, which provided for 3,000 to 4,000 departures a month. It began on December 1, 1965 with two flights a day, five days a week, and lasted until April 1973. According to the State Department, it carried 260,737 people; other sources give figures close to 270,000.

Camarioca and the Freedom FlightsThe Birth of the Cuban Adjustment ActU.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964-1968, vol. XXXII, document 308, "Editorial Note"

A Miami building, opened in 1925 as the home of a newspaper, where the federal government had its Cuban refugee assistance center from 1962 to 1974. There newcomers received entry processing, medical and dental care, food and financial aid, which is why they called it "El Refugio." It was designated a National Historic Landmark on October 6, 2008 and today belongs to Miami Dade College.

The First ExileCamarioca and the Freedom FlightsNational Park Service, "Freedom Tower, Florida"

A law signed on March 12, 1996 that wrote into statute the economic embargo on Cuba as it stood on March 1, 1996. Its Title III allows Americans to sue anyone who "traffics" in property confiscated from them, and its Title IV denies entry into the United States to those persons. Its section 206 defines what a democratically elected government in Cuba is, the condition to which another 1996 law ties the repeal of the Cuban Adjustment Act.

Amendments and Related LawsThe Debate over the Cuban Adjustment ActPublic Law 104-114, 110 Stat. 785 (March 12, 1996)

The usual name for parole under section 212(d)(5)(A) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, to distinguish it from other releases that are also called "parole" but have a different legal basis, such as the "conditional parole" of section 236. In 2023 the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) established that the two are legally distinct and that only the first meets the requirement of the Cuban Adjustment Act. In the diaspora's everyday usage it also refers to the 2023 programs, such as the process for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV).

Parole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220AHumanitarian ParoleMatter of Cabrera-Fernandez, 28 I&N Dec. 747 (BIA 2023)

The form with which a U.S. citizen, permanent resident or national shows U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) a family relationship with a relative who aspires to permanent residence. It is the first step of immigration through the family route. For Cubans it has served as the basis for parole programs such as the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP), which allowed them to come before a visa became available.

Humanitarian ParoleHow the Adjustment Act Works TodayUSCIS, "I-130, Petition for Alien Relative"

An online form with which a person in the United States offered to act as a supporter and declared the ability to support a beneficiary financially. It was the first step of the parole processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans (CHNV) from January 2023 and, from August 2023, also of new applications to the Cuban Family Reunification Parole Program (CFRP). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) terminated both programs in 2025.

Humanitarian ParoleClosed Doors, Law Still StandingDHS, "Termination of Parole Processes for Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans," 90 Fed. Reg. 13611 (March 25, 2025)

The form of the order by which the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) releases on recognizance, with conditions, a person detained while removal proceedings continue. Cubans detained after crossing the southern border, among others, received it. In Matter of Cabrera-Fernandez (September 11, 2023), the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) decided that this release, made under section 236 of the Act, is different from the humanitarian parole of section 212(d)(5)(A) and does not meet the requirement of the Cuban Adjustment Act. The question remains in litigation.

Parole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220AThe Cuban Adjustment Act in the CourtsClosed Doors, Law Still StandingMatter of Cabrera-Fernandez, 28 I&N Dec. 747 (BIA 2023)

The form with which a person in the United States asks U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) for permanent residence. It is used in almost all adjustment routes, including the Cuban Adjustment Act. In November 2026 the current edition is the one dated September 18, 2026.

How the Adjustment Act Works TodayUSCIS, "I-485, Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status"

A record, today almost always electronic, that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) creates when it inspects a person and that shows the person's arrival and departure and whether the person was admitted or paroled. A paper copy can be obtained from the systems of U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Because the Cuban Adjustment Act requires admission or parole, this record is central to proving the manner of entry.

How the Adjustment Act Works TodayParole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220A8 C.F.R. § 1.4 (definition of Form I-94)

An agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created in 2003 by merging the investigation and interior enforcement arms of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) and of the Customs Service. Among its directorates are Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) and the Office of the Principal Legal Advisor (OPLA). It is the agency that detains migrants inside the country and the one that issues orders of release on recognizance such as the I-220A.

Parole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220AClosed Doors, Law Still StandingU.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, "About ICE"

An attorney whom the Attorney General appoints as an administrative judge within the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) to conduct removal proceedings and other hearings. Their decisions can be appealed to the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA). They are not part of the federal judiciary but of the Department of Justice.

The Cuban Adjustment Act in the CourtsINA § 101(b)(4), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(b)(4)

Under the law, "admission" is the lawful entry of a person into the United States after inspection and authorization by an immigration officer. The Cuban Adjustment Act requires having been "inspected and admitted or paroled" after January 1, 1959: a person who entered with a visa was admitted, and a person who arrived without a visa needs parole instead. Both forms meet the requirement, although the law makes clear that parole is not an admission.

How the Adjustment Act Works TodayThe Text of the Cuban Adjustment ActINA § 101(a)(13)(A), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(13)(A)

A section of the Immigration Reform and Control Act, signed on November 6, 1986, that allowed people designated as Cuban-Haitian entrants, or nationals of Cuba or Haiti, who had arrived before January 1, 1982 to apply for permanent residence. The application had to be filed within the following two years. It was the route of regularization for entrants who arrived in the Mariel boatlift.

Between Two CrisesThe Mariel ExodusAmendments and Related LawsPub. L. 99-603, § 202, 100 Stat. 3404, note to 8 U.S.C. § 1255a

The popular name for the August 5, 1994 uprising in Havana. According to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), it broke out when police tried to disperse a crowd gathered by a false rumor that a flotilla of boats was coming to pick people up. On August 13, Fidel Castro threatened on television to stop preventing departures, and in the following weeks the rafter crisis was unleashed.

The Rafter CrisisBetween Two CrisesGAO, "Cuba: U.S. Response to the 1994 Cuban Migration Crisis," GAO/NSIAD-95-211 (September 18, 1995)

The mass exodus of 1980 through the Cuban port of Mariel, which the government of Fidel Castro opened after the crisis at the Peruvian embassy in Havana. According to the Coast Guard, 124,776 Cubans arrived by sea between April 1 and September 25, 1980, and 27 people died. Other sources, such as the National Archives and the Congressional Research Service, give about 125,000.

The Mariel ExodusU.S. Coast Guard, "Mariel Boatlift" (page archived in 2008)

The name by which Cubans who arrived in the 1980 Mariel boatlift are known in the United States. The U.S. National Archives uses it when telling the story of the boatlift, which according to that source brought about 125,000 Cubans, 86,488 of them in May 1980 alone.

The Mariel ExodusBetween Two CrisesNational Archives, The Text Message, "Castro, Cuba, and a Fleet of Fishing Boats: The Causes and Effects of the Mariel Boatlift" (August 3, 2021)

The stopping at sea, by the Coast Guard, of vessels carrying migrants toward the United States. Executive Order 12807 of May 24, 1992, which replaced Executive Order 12324 of 1981, authorizes stopping those vessels and returning their occupants, even beyond the territorial sea. With Cubans it has been applied systematically since the 1995 migration accords.

The Rafter CrisisWet Foot, Dry FootExecutive Order 12807, "Interdiction of Illegal Aliens" (May 24, 1992), The American Presidency Project

Two agreements between Washington and Havana that closed the rafter crisis. Under the joint communique of September 9, 1994, the United States committed to admit no fewer than 20,000 Cuban immigrants a year, not counting immediate relatives of U.S. citizens, and Cuba to discourage departures by sea. Under the agreement of May 2, 1995, most of the Cubans held at Guantánamo could enter the United States on parole, and those interdicted at sea from then on would be returned to Cuba.

The Rafter CrisisWet Foot, Dry FootCongressional Research Service (CRS), "Cuban Migration to the United States: Policy and Trends," R40566 (June 2, 2009)

The document with which the government begins removal proceedings before an immigration judge. Under the law, it must state, among other things, the nature of the proceedings, their legal basis, the facts alleged against the person, the charges, and that the person may be represented by an attorney. With it, the case moves to an immigration court of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

The Cuban Adjustment Act in the CourtsParole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220AINA § 239(a), 8 U.S.C. § 1229(a)

The departure of Cuban children and teenagers whom their parents sent alone to the United States between December 1960 and October 1962, for fear of communist indoctrination. The figure of 14,048 is the one given by the group of former participants Operation Pedro Pan Group and by FIU; the Heritage Foundation estimated in 1980 between 13,000 and 15,000. According to that group, it was a program based mostly on visa waivers, run by the Catholic Church and the State Department, in which Father Bryan O. Walsh of the Catholic Welfare Bureau in Miami played a central role. It ended with the missile crisis in October 1962 (its page gives October 22 and 23).

Operation Pedro PanThe First ExileOperation Pedro Pan Group, "History"; Heritage Foundation, Backgrounder No. 124 (July 18, 1980), https://policyarchive.org/download/8923

The authority of the Secretary of Homeland Security to allow a person who applies for admission to enter or remain temporarily in the United States, "only on a case-by-case basis for urgent humanitarian reasons or significant public benefit." The law makes clear that parole is not an admission. Even so, the Cuban Adjustment Act accepts a person who was "inspected and admitted or paroled," so parole of this kind meets that requirement even if the person never had a visa.

Parole, Wet Foot, Dry Foot, and the I-220AHow the Adjustment Act Works TodayINA § 212(d)(5)(A), 8 U.S.C. § 1182(d)(5)(A)

The status of a person who has the privilege, granted under the immigration laws, of residing permanently in the United States as an immigrant. It is proved with the permanent resident card (Form I-551), known as the green card. It is the status the Cuban Adjustment Act grants; citizenship comes later, through a different process: naturalization.

What the Cuban Adjustment Act IsHow the Adjustment Act Works TodayINA § 101(a)(20), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(20)

A requirement of the Cuban Adjustment Act: having been physically present in the United States for at least one year. The original 1966 text asked for two years; the Refugee Act of 1980 reduced it to one. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the year must be completed when Form I-485 is filed, and it does not need to be counted from the parole.

How the Adjustment Act Works TodayAmendments and Related LawsUSCIS, "Green Card for a Cuban Native or Citizen"

A ground of inadmissibility that allows a visa or permanent residence to be denied to a person who, in the officer's judgment, is likely at some point to become dependent on the government (INA § 212(a)(4)). The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) final rule published on July 20, 2026, effective September 18, 2026, repealed the 2022 rule and gave officers broad discretion again to weigh the use of public benefits. Applicants for adjustment under the Cuban Adjustment Act remain exempt by act of Congress: DHS reiterated this in that rule, although it removed the list of exemptions from the regulations (8 C.F.R. § 212.23).

How the Adjustment Act Works TodayClosed Doors, Law Still StandingDHS, "Public Charge Ground of Inadmissibility," 91 Fed. Reg. 45324 (July 20, 2026)

A person who tries to leave Cuba by sea on a makeshift craft. The term is associated above all with the summer of 1994: on August 19 of that year President Bill Clinton announced that the Coast Guard would no longer bring interdicted Cubans to the United States but would take them to the Guantánamo naval base, which, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO), reversed a policy of three decades. About 33,000 Cubans were picked up at sea and taken to that base.

The Rafter CrisisWet Foot, Dry FootGAO, "Cuba: U.S. Response to the 1994 Cuban Migration Crisis," GAO/NSIAD-95-211 (September 18, 1995)

In U.S. law, a person who is outside their country and cannot or will not return because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion. A person who seeks the same protection from inside the United States applies for asylum. The 1966 Adjustment Act was presented as a law for Cuban refugees, but it does not use this definition, which entered the law with the Refugee Act of 1980.

What the Cuban Adjustment Act IsThe Birth of the Cuban Adjustment ActINA § 101(a)(42), 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(42)

A rule of the Cuban Adjustment Act: when approving permanent residence, the government records the admission for permanent residence as of an earlier date, which is the date of last arrival in the United States or the date 30 months before the application was filed, whichever is later. According to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), that is the date from which the residence is counted, so it moves up the moment at which a person can apply for citizenship.

How the Adjustment Act Works TodayThe Text of the Cuban Adjustment ActUSCIS Policy Manual, vol. 12, part D, ch. 2, "Lawful Permanent Resident Admission for Naturalization"

The name for the severe economic crisis Cuba went through after the collapse of the Soviet Union. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), between 1990 and 1993 Cuba's gross domestic product fell between 35% and 50% as Russian financial assistance practically disappeared.

Between Two CrisesThe Rafter CrisisCRS, "Cuba: U.S. Policy in the 115th Congress," R44822 (updated January 15, 2019)

A public health order of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), issued in March 2020 because of COVID-19 under Title 42 of the U.S. Code (42 U.S.C. § 265), which allowed many migrants detained at the border to be expelled without processing their cases under immigration law. It stopped being applied when the public health emergency ended on May 11, 2023.

The Great ExodusHumanitarian ParoleDHS and Department of Justice, "Circumvention of Lawful Pathways," 88 Fed. Reg. 31314 (May 16, 2023)

A 1992 law (Title XVII of Public Law 102-484, of October 23, 1992) that tightened the embargo. It prohibited licenses for trade with Cuba by foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies and barred for 180 days from loading and unloading in the United States any ships that had entered a Cuban port to trade.

Between Two CrisesAmendments and Related LawsCuban Democracy Act of 1992, § 1706, 22 U.S.C. § 6005

The U.S. armed service that patrols the Straits of Florida and the Caribbean, rescues vessels and stops at sea migrants who try to reach the United States; interdicted Cubans are usually repatriated to Cuba. By its own figures, it interdicted 6,182 Cubans in fiscal year 2022, compared with 838 in 2021 and 49 in 2020.

The Rafter CrisisThe Great ExodusU.S. Coast Guard, "Coast Guard repatriates 174 people to Cuba" (bulletin of October 8, 2022)

A diplomatic office that the United States opened in Havana on September 1, 1977 under the protection of the Swiss government, because the two countries had not had diplomatic relations since January 3, 1961. It performed consular functions, including the processing of visas for Cubans. On July 20, 2015, when relations were restored, it became an embassy.

Dialogue and ReunionWet Foot, Dry FootU.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, "Cuba"

An agency of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that decides applications for immigration benefits: permanent residence (including adjustment under the Cuban Adjustment Act), family petitions, affirmative asylum and naturalization, among others. It was created by the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and took over those functions when the former Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) disappeared in 2003.

How the Adjustment Act Works Today6 U.S.C. § 271 (creation of the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services)

A federal law protecting victims of domestic violence. Its reauthorizations of 2000 and 2005 (the latter signed on January 5, 2006) amended the Cuban Adjustment Act: a spouse or child who has been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty by the Cuban may adjust status without showing that they live with him or her. In addition, a spouse who lived with the Cuban continues to count as such for two years after the Cuban's death, or after the end of the marriage if a connection is shown between the divorce and the abuse.

Amendments and Related LawsThe Text of the Cuban Adjustment ActPub. L. 89-732, § 1, as amended by Pub. L. 106-386 and 109-162, note to 8 U.S.C. § 1255

The popular name for the overland journey that many Cubans undertook from late 2021: they flew to Nicaragua, which in November 2021 eliminated the visa requirement for Cubans, and from there crossed Central America and Mexico to the U.S. border. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) noted that this exemption made it easier to begin irregular migration by land and that in October and November 2022 it encountered 62,788 unique Cubans on the southwest border.

The Great ExodusDHS, "Implementation of a Parole Process for Cubans," 88 Fed. Reg. 1266 (January 9, 2023)

A practice derived from the 1994 and 1995 migration accords: Cubans interdicted at sea ("wet foot") were returned to Cuba unless they expressed a well-founded fear of persecution, and those who reached land ("dry foot") were inspected, generally received parole and after one year could apply for permanent residence under the Cuban Adjustment Act. It was not a law but an executive branch policy. It ended on January 12, 2017.

Wet Foot, Dry FootThe End of "Wet Foot, Dry Foot"CRS, "U.S. Policy on Cuban Migrants: In Brief," R44714 (updated December 16, 2016)

The popular name for the exit permit that the Cuban government required for decades of its citizens to travel abroad. Decree-Law 302, published in the Gaceta Oficial on October 16, 2012 and in force from January 14, 2013, amended the 1976 Migration Law and abolished that requirement. The same decree treats as an emigrant a person who spends more than 24 months outside the country without authorization.

The End of "Wet Foot, Dry Foot"Wet Foot, Dry FootGaceta Oficial de la República de Cuba, "Decreto-Ley 302 de 2012 de Consejo de Estado"