Story highlights Havana has argued the policy encourages Cubans to make the dangerous trip to the US

The decision was likely Obama's last move in his historic dealings with Cuba

Washington (CNN) President Barack Obama is ending the longstanding "wet foot, dry foot" policy that allows Cubans who arrive in the United States without a visa to become permanent residents, the administration announced Thursday. But he's decided something that will have lasting ramifications for Miami and South Florida: the end of the long-standing and controversial "wet foot, dry foot" Cuban immigration policy, which granted residency to Cuban immigrants who entered the United States without visas, according to a statement from the White House. "Today, the United States is taking important steps forward to normalize relations with Cuba and to bring greater consistency to our immigration policy," President Obama said in a news release. Following a mass exodus of Cubans to the United States, former President Bill Clinton in the mid-1990s changed the "open door" policy on Cuban refugees -- first established by President Lyndon B. Johnson -- to the "wet, foot, dry foot" policy that repatriated Cubans intercepted at sea but allowed those who reach land to stay.
President Barack Obama announces the end of the wet feet, dry feet policy, which previously allowed undocumented immigrants from Cuba to become permanent residents.