During the past years, exile waves have consisted of balseros, who travel in homemade rafts.
On 18 August 1994, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said in a press release:
To divert the Cuban people from seeking democratic change, the government of Cuba has resorted to an unconscionable tactic of letting people risk their lives by leaving in flimsy vessels through the treacherous waters of the Florida Straits.
Many people have lost their lives in such crossings.
We urge the people of Cuba to remain home and not to fall for this callous maneuver.
I want to work with all concerned including the Cuban American community to make sure the message goes out to Cubans that putting a boat or raft to sea means putting life and limb at risk... To prevent this from happening again, the Coast Guard has mounted an aggressive public information campaign so people know that vessels... may be stopped and boarded and may be seized.
Individuals who violate U.S. law will be prosecuted in appropriate circumstances.

President Clinton, trying to stem the flow of Cuban rafters, pressed a dozen Latin American governments to provide internment camps that officials hoped would prove more attractive to refugees than the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.
Although the refugees at Guantanamo were held behind barbed wire, to many, the base was less forbidding than a foreign internment camp.

As a result of bilateral migration accords between the two governments, in September 1994 and May 1995, the status quo of U.S. policy toward Cuban migrants was altered significantly.
The U.S. granted Cuba an annual minimum of 20,000 legal immigrant visas and, at the same time, determined that Cubans picked up at sea would be sent home just as any other group of illegal immigrants.
President Clinton's agreement with Cuba resolved the dilemma of the approximately 33,000 Cubans then at Guantanamo.
This new agreement had two new points.
The United States agreed to take most of the Cubans detained at Guantanamo through the humanitarian parole provision.
Cuba agreed to credit some of these admissions toward the minimum quota of 20,000 migrants from Cuba, with 5,000 charged annually over the years.
Secondly, rather than placing Cubans intercepted at sea in a camp, the United States began sending them back to Cuba.
Both governments promised to follow international agreements to ensure that no action would be taken against the people returned to Cuba.

As a result of these migration agreements and interdiction policy, a "wet foot/dry foot" practice toward Cuban immigrants was developed.
Those who did not reach dry land were returned to Cuba unless they feared persecution there, but only those who meet the definition of asylum refugee were accepted for eventual resettlement in a third country.
Those Cuban rafters who did reach land were inspected by Department of Homeland Security and usually were allowed to stay in the United States.
From May 1995 through July 2003, about 170 Cuban refugees were resettled in eleven different countries, including Spain, Venezuela, Australia, and Nicaragua.
Since March 2003  the State Department has not been allowed to monitor the treatment of the immigrants returned to Cuba.

The wet foot/dry foot was abruptly ended by President Obama days before he ended his second term in 2017, which sparked controversy for the Cuban Exile community
During the past years, exile waves have consisted of balseros, who travel in homemade rafts. On 18 August 1994, U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno said in a press release:
To divert the Cuban people from seeking democratic change, the government of Cuba has resorted to an unconscionable tactic of letting people risk their lives by leaving in flimsy vessels through the treacherous waters of the Florida Straits. Many people have lost their lives in such crossings. We urge the people of Cuba to remain home and not to fall for this callous maneuver. I want to work with all concerned including the Cuban American community to make sure the message goes out to Cubans that putting a boat or raft to sea means putting life and limb at risk... To prevent this from happening again, the Coast Guard has mounted an aggressive public information campaign so people know that vessels... may be stopped and boarded and may be seized. Individuals who violate U.S. law will be prosecuted in appropriate circumstances.
President Clinton, trying to stem the flow of Cuban rafters, pressed a dozen Latin American governments to provide internment camps that officials hoped would prove more attractive to refugees than the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. Although the refugees at Guantanamo were held behind barbed wire, to many, the base was less forbidding than a foreign internment camp.
As a result of bilateral migration accords between the two governments, in September 1994 and May 1995, the status quo of U.S. policy toward Cuban migrants was altered significantly. The U.S. granted Cuba an annual minimum of 20,000 legal immigrant visas and, at the same time, determined that Cubans picked up at sea would be sent home just as any other group of illegal immigrants. President Clinton's agreement with Cuba resolved the dilemma of the approximately 33,000 Cubans then at Guantanamo. This new agreement had two new points. The United States agreed to take most of the Cubans detained at Guantanamo through the humanitarian parole provision. Cuba agreed to credit some of these admissions toward the minimum quota of 20,000 migrants from Cuba, with 5,000 charged annually over the years. Secondly, rather than placing Cubans intercepted at sea in a camp, the United States began sending them back to Cuba. Both governments promised to follow international agreements to ensure that no action would be taken against the people returned to Cuba.
As a result of these migration agreements and interdiction policy, a "wet foot/dry foot" practice toward Cuban immigrants was developed. Those who did not reach dry land were returned to Cuba unless they feared persecution there, but only those who meet the definition of asylum refugee were accepted for eventual resettlement in a third country. Those Cuban rafters who did reach land were inspected by Department of Homeland Security and usually were allowed to stay in the United States. From May 1995 through July 2003, about 170 Cuban refugees were resettled in eleven different countries, including Spain, Venezuela, Australia, and Nicaragua. Since March 2003  the State Department has not been allowed to monitor the treatment of the immigrants returned to Cuba. 
The wet foot/dry foot was abruptly ended by President Obama days before he ended his second term in 2017, which sparked controversy for the Cuban Exile community
Cuban exile