U.S. to Send Back Refugees From Cuba

Cuban refugees reaching the United States illegally will be sent back to Cuba from now on, U.S. immigration officials said. The controversial move, discussed for several months, marks the end of a policy of virtually automatic asylum for Cubans and has angered Cuban exiles in the United States. Lemar Wooley, an Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman, said the Miami immigration office has received the new instructions. They went into effect immediately, retroactive to Dec. 6. The Cubans can only be returned if the Havana government accepts them, he added. If Cuba rejected their return, they would remain in the U.S.