Unable to re-enter the country they were trying to escape, 38 Cuban migrants who had intended to sail to the U.S. are currently on board a U.S. Coast Guard vessel where they are waiting to find out if and when they will be allowed back on Cuban soil.

According to U.S. officials, the immigrants had tourist visas to the Caribbean island nation of Saint Lucia when they were picked up at sea by the Coast Guard.

As reported by The Associated Press, an anonymous Cuban official revealed the government of Cuba has refused re-entry of their citizens because their return does not align itself with a repatriation agreement that exists between the U.S. and the communist country.

The people still waiting on a yes or no from Cuba were part of a larger group of around 96 Cubans who were intercepted at sea and then taken aboard the Coast Guard cutter Vigilant.

The Cuban government has made no official public statement about the case but did allow the return of 58 people. Currently, under U.S. law, any Cuban national who actually makes it onto U.S. soil is granted permission to come into the country and is set on a fast-track to becoming a permanent resident and then a U.S. citizen. However, Cubans who are caught at sea are usually sent back to their land, and typically the Cuban government has allowed U.S. authorities to repatriate migrants with ease.

As detailed in the Washington Post, the so-called "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy is the informal name given to a 1995 agreement, which stipulates Cuban migrants trying to get to the United States who are intercepted at sea are sent back to Cuba or to a third country, while those migrants who make it to the U.S. are allowed to stay.

A decision to keep the migrants from returning to Cuba may lead to a diplomatic rift between Cuba and the U.S. at a time when both countries are trying to mend over 50 years of political tension.