WASHINGTON, July 11 (Xinhua) -- The United States and Cuba held biannual Migration Talks in Washington on Wednesday, with the discussions focusing on irregular migration.
The delegations from Washington and Havana noticed the significant reduction in irregular migration from Cuba to the United States since January 2017, said the U.S. State Department in a statement.
The statement noted that the apprehensions of Cuban migrant at U.S. ports of entry dropped by 88 percent in the fiscal year 2017 to 2018, ending Sept.30.
The dramatic drop followed the annulment of the "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy in mid January last year, a special U.S. immigration policy that granted residency to Cubans who arrived in the United States without visas.
The outdated law, which had been in place for more than 20 years, is one of the Cold War-era policies that persisted despite the restoration of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2015.
The U.S.-Cuba Migration Talks began in 1995, serving as a forum for the two countries to review and coordinate efforts on migration. The talks were last held in December 2017 in Washington.