Updated: Tue 4:58 PM, May 05, 2015

LAREDO, TEXAS (KGNS) - Customs and Border Protection says it expects to see the rate of Cuban immigrants at the US border continue for the rest of the year.

Data released by CBP shows the a 25 percent increase from 2013 to 2014 in the number of Cuban immigrants coming to the southern border.

Customs has released data for the first quarter of 2015.

Those numbers multiplied out for for the full year would show a 50 percent increase in immigration this year over last.

Cubans are eligible for asylum in the US if they make a claim of "credible fear" when they get here.

"Under the Cuban Refugee Adjustment Act, when somebody makes a claim at a Port of Entry, we of course make sure for security reasons that we first make all the checks to make sure they're not of concern and in effect they are paroled at the end of that process", says Laredo Port of Entry Director Joseph Misenhelter.

Cubans are eligible for food and housing benefits in the United States.
A center in Laredo that helps Cubans says they're seeing 80 new people a day.

Some remain in Laredo, while they wait for work permits.

http://www.kgns.tv/home/headlines/cuban-302627691.html