Havana, August 8 (RHC)-- Cuba says a U.S. policy of treating Cubans arriving at U.S. soil as legal immigrants is driving many to make the costly and risky trip.

U.S. policy toward Cuban immigrants is to blame for a surge in people leaving the Caribbean nation in a hazardous attempt to reach the United States by land and sea, the Cuban government said Sunday.

A statement issued by the Cuban Foreign Ministry announced the arrival of 14 Cubans deported from Colombia. It said migrants were the “victims of the politicization of the migration issue by the U.S. government, which stimulates illegal and unsafe migration of Cubans into the U.S.”

Under the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act, any Cuban citizen who arrives on U.S. soil, regardless of the irregular means they use, are treated as legal immigrants.

The Foreign Ministry said that Washington's arbitrary migration policy towards the Caribbean state sharply contradicts ongoing efforts towards the normalization of relations.