More Cuban Defectors Joining US Ranks, U.S. Officials Estimate

It appears that more Cubans are becoming part of the United States.

According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel this week, U.S. officials say the number of Cuban defectors escaping Cuba for America has spiked within the last year, with more undocumented Cubans coming across the borders from Mexico and Canada and by air from other countries.

Some come from Spain, where thousands of Cubans can apply for Spanish citizenship as long as they come from families of Spaniards who fled to Cuba during the Spanish Civil War, while others are part of the 100,000 Cubans who have resided in Ecuador since 2008.

"It may be under the radar, but as we know, Cubans arrive all the time," Adrian Duranona, who heads up Church World Service operations in Fort Lauderdale and Delray Beach, told the Sun Sentinel. Duranona's group deals with the increasing Cuban immigrant populace coming to Broward and Palm Beach counties.

Duranona added that his group has seen a lot of Cuban single males coming in.

ABC News Univision reports that the increase in Cuban defectors could be tied in with a new law in Cuba which eases punishments for Cubans who left the country illegally and want to return to visit the island nation.

The new law is set to take effect in January, and designed to make it easier for Cubans who defected after 1990 to return home.

Jaime Suchlicki, director of the Institute for Cuban and Cuban American Studies at the University of Miami, said in an interview with ABC/Univision that Cubans have more flexibility in getting out of Cuba now.

"They're doing away with the requirements, except buying passports," he said.

While there is no exact number for the amount of Cuban defectors coming to the U.S. each year, the Sun Sentinel reports that various agencies are projecting that number to be as high as 10,000.

Roughly 1,275 Cuban immigrants were detained by the U.S. Coast Guard in the 2012 fiscal year, according to the South Florida newspaper. Only 422 Cubans were detained in 2010, ABC News Univision reports.

Cubans who reach American soil are allowed to remain in the U.S. under the "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, while those stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard at sea are turned back to Cuba.