More than 17,000 Cubans entered the United States across the border in June alone.

In June of this year, a total of 17,563 Cubans crossed the U.S. border, according to the latest data from Customs and Border Protection (CBP). That figure represents the lowest Cuban income in the first nine months of fiscal year 2024, which began on October 1 of last year.

Three months into the fiscal period, 180,925 Cubans have already arrived in the United States through various routes during this fiscal year.

Ticket distribution

Of the total number of Cuban migrants, about 11,316 Cubans entered via the southern border, while only 37 entered via the northern border with Canada, slightly higher than the previous month’s figure of 31. In addition, 6,216 Cubans arrived by sea.

The number of Cuban migrants entering the United States in the first nine months of the current fiscal year is higher than the number recorded in the same period in 2023. By comparison, during the first nine months of fiscal year 2023, there were 164,440 border encounters. Cubans were recorded, while this year there are already 180,925.

The current fiscal year is expected to surpass the previous year in terms of border confrontations, which totaled 200,287 during the period from October 2022 to September 2023.

Context of the migration crisis

These data reflect that the crisis in Cuba continues to drive a massive and irregular exodus to the United States, despite the Biden administration’s efforts to channel this flow through legal channels such as humanitarian parole.

Last April, on the eve of the 38th round of Cuba-US migration talks in Washington, the Cuban government acknowledged that the current migration crisis was “the largest in Cuba’s history,” blaming the United States for its migration policies and encouraging Cuban migration through “extraordinary and artificial incentives.”

Biden Administration Actions

On June 5, the Biden administration implemented a series of border changes to prevent people who cross the border illegally from applying for asylum, with some exceptions. The White House stressed that these measures would be implemented when the high levels of encounters with illegal immigrants at the southern border exceed the ability to manage the consequences in a timely manner.

The Biden administration also warned that Congress must take action to resolve the immigration problem at the border with Mexico, because the measures approved by the president do not provide the personnel or money needed to secure the situation.