Cuban migrants have it easier on U.S.-Mexico border

Critics say the policy is unfair to other Latin American migrants, and is a political instrument to destabilize Cuba's communist leaders rather than help ordinary Cubans.

Washington has tried to bring down Cuban leader Fidel Castro ever since he came to power in a 1959 revolution, expropriated U.S. companies and allied with the Soviet Union.

"If the United States wanted to extend a helping hand to ordinary Cubans, it would give out more visas at the U.S. consulate in Havana," said Jose Pertierra, a Washington-based immigration lawyer who handles Cuban cases.

"This is about propaganda so the United States can say: Look! Cubans are risking their lives to leave in droves."

The U.S. consulate in Havana granted 15,000 visas in the last 12 months, 5,000 short of an annual quota agreed in 1994-95 to prevent a mass exodus of Cubans from the island.

It says it does not have enough staff to process more visas and blames Cuban red tape for the shortfall.

Many Mexican immigrants argue they are no different from Cubans and are also escaping from oppression and poverty.

"I tried six times to get across and they caught me and put me in a Texas prison for 18 months. I'm not a criminal," said construction worker Alberto Ornelas, 35, in Nuevo Laredo across the border from Texas.