With daily arguments over immigration issues, it is unusual for agreements to be reached with speed and relative ease; however, this is exactly what has happened between Mexico and five Central American nations that have signed a deal to help thousands of Cuban immigrants to travel to the United States.
An estimated 8,000 Cubans have been stranded in Costa Rica for weeks after Nicaragua refused to allow them to enter; however, a number of countries in Central America have now come to an agreement to allow the immigrants to fly to El Salvador and then enter Mexico by bus, at which point they will have the opportunity to enter the United States. Groups of Cubans will start being transported by air this month, according to officials.
The amount of Cubans trying to enter the United States has dramatically increased since relations between the two nations began to mend. In the 2015 fiscal year over 43,000 Cuban immigrants entered the US, a recent report from the Pew Research Centre revealed. This number represented a rise of 78% compared with the amount of immigrants arriving in the 2014 fiscal year.
The increase has been fuelled at least in part by fear that the renewed relations between the United States and Cuba will put an end to the current US policy of allowing any Cuban immigrant who sets foot on US soil to remain in the country and be granted a green card just one year and one day after arrival.