Mexico expels 91 Cuban migrants after US law change

23:46 - 20 January 2017

Cubans remain outside the National Immigration Institute with the hope of obtaining a safe-conduct that will allow them to reach the border with the United States, in Tapachula, Chiapas state, Mexico on January 16, 2017

Mexico said Friday it expelled 91 Cuban migrants whose aim of reaching the United States was thwarted by a sudden change in US policy.

Mexico's National Migration Institute said the 71 Cuban men and 20 women were turned away after arriving in Chiapas state near the Guatemalan border.

"They were returned to their country of origin in an airplane" provided by the Mexican authorities, it said in a statement.

Tens of thousands of migrants make their way every month through Mexico in search of a better life in the United States.

Among them, thousands of Cubans received special treatment upon reaching US soil -- until now.

Days before leaving office on Friday, former US president Barack Obama ended decades-old regulations that allowed Cubans arriving in the United States to settle there without a visa.