The U.S. Coast Guard is worried about a recent spike in the number of Cuban migrants setting sail illegally to the United States, officials said. The increase began in mid-December, right after President Barack Obama and Cuban President Raul Castro announced their intentions to improve U.S.-Cuban relations. Migrants picked up by the Coast Guard told officers they were trying to reach South Florida before the U.S. ends the so-called wet-foot dry-foot policy, which gives preferential immigration status to Cubans who set foot on American soil.
