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HAVANA (AP) — Homeland Security says additional Coast Guard cutters have been deployed to the Florida Straits to halt Cuban and Haitian migrants from reaching the United States by boat.
The announcement came as a U.S. delegation began two days of talks with Cuban officials in Havana. It's the highest-level U.S. delegation to the island in more than decades.
Cuba urged the U.S. to end immigration privileges that grant virtually automatic legal residency to any Cuban who touches U.S. soil. Its government blames the Cold War policy for luring tens of thousands of Cubans a year to make perilous journeys by sea and land to try to reach the United States.
The American officials rebuffed the demands, instead pressing Cuba to take back tens of thousands of its nationals whom U.S. authorities want to deport because they have been convicted of crimes. An official present in the meeting says no progress was made on that issue.
U.S. officials reported a spike in the number of rafters attempting to reach Florida after the Dec. 17 announcement that the countries would move to normalize ties. Those numbers appear to have slowed in recent days.
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APPHOTO XRE101: A Cuban and U.S. flag wave from the balcony of the Hotel Saratoga where a U.S. Congressional delegation is staying in Havana, Cuba, Monday, Jan. 19, 2015. Cuba's foreign minister told the group of U.S. senators and congressmen Monday that his country is open to greater diplomatic and trade ties but the congressional delegation did not meet President Raul Castro, the man who will make many of the key decisions about the new U.S.-Cuban relationship. (AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa) (19 Jan 2015)
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APPHOTO XRE101: Members of a U.S. delegation, right, and Cuban delegates, left, sit across from each other as they begin negotiations, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. The highest-level U.S. delegation to Cuba in decades kicked off two days of negotiations Wednesday after grand promises by President Barack Obama about change on the island and a somber warning from Cuba to abandon hopes of reforming the communist government. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan) (21 Jan 2015)
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APPHOTO XRE107: Ministry of Foreign Relations General Director for the United States, Josefina Vidal, and Cuban delegation members, sit across from U.S. delegates as they begin negotiations, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. The highest-level U.S. delegation to Cuba in decades kicked off two days of negotiations Wednesday after grand promises by President Barack Obama about change on the island and a somber warning from Cuba to abandon hopes of reforming the communist government. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan) (21 Jan 2015)
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APPHOTO XRE103: Deputy Assistant Secretary at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs Edward Alex Lee, right, and members of a U.S. delegation, sit across from Cuban delegates as they begin negotiations, in Havana, Cuba, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2015. The highest-level U.S. delegation to Cuba in decades kicked off two days of negotiations Wednesday after grand promises by President Barack Obama about change on the island and a somber warning from Cuba to abandon hopes of reforming the communist government. (AP Photo/Desmond Boylan) (21 Jan 2015)
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