People wait in a line as they are organized to enter the U.S. embassy on the day of its reopening for visa and consular services in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Jan. 4, 2023. (AP Photo/Ismael Francisco)
In the midst of the largest Cuban migration to South Florida in a decade, the U.S. embassy in Cuba is renewing its visa and consular services.
The embassy is set to start processing immigrant visas as the U.S. looks to aid in the reunion of families that were broken up in their quest to leave the communist-run island country.
The announcement comes on the heels of at least two dozen Cuban migrants being rescued from small boats by commercial cruise liners. The past weekend alone saw more than 300 migrants from Cuba touching down on the continental United States.
According to NPR, the embassy will process 20,000 visa applications, which would provide many more people with a legal and safe route to enter. In November, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol encountered Cuban migrants 34,675 times along the Mexican border, which was a 21 percent jump from October when 28,848 migrants were stopped by officials.
Efforts by the U.S. to quell migrant tensions with Cuba have been ongoing and officials have conducted several talks in recent months surrounding migration with Havana.
"Engaging in these talks underscores our commitment to pursuing constructive discussions with the government of Cuba where appropriate to advance U.S. interests," the U.S.Embassy in Cuba said in a statement.
The Justice Department's four-count indictment Tuesday accuses the former president of assaulting the underpinnings of democracy in a frantic but ultimately failed effort to cling to power.
Thousands of Marines backed by advanced U.S. fighter jets and warships are slowly building up a presence in the Persian Gulf. It’s a sign that while America’s wars in the region may be finished, its conflict with Iran over its advancing nuclear program continues to worsen, with no solutions in sight.
The fate of an American nurse and her daughter kidnapped in Haiti last week remains unknown Tuesday as the U.S. State Department refused to say whether the abductors made demands.
Moments after two children were playing with toy guns, one of the children picked up a real rifle in a western Alaska home and fatally shot the other child, authorities said.
More than 70 years after doctors at Johns Hopkins Hospital took Henrietta Lacks’ cervical cells without her knowledge, a lawyer for her descendants said they have reached a settlement with a biotechnology company that they accused of reaping billions of dollars from a racist medical system.
