Agents of the United States Border Patrol intercepted 18 Cuban rafters on Monday after making landfall on Marathon Key. Officer Thomas G. Martin unveiled in their social networks that the migrants, who arrived in a homemade boat, “were taken into federal custody.”
G. Martin specified that the location of the foreigners occurred during a “maritime smuggling” operation in the Florida Keys. As part of these surveillance patrols, another 18 Cuban rafters were detained on October 29.
The rafters were taken, as usual, to a migration center, where they were given the opportunity to demonstrate “credible fear” of being returned to the island. said the lawyer of Immigration Willy Allen to journalist Mario Pentón during an interview in October. If they convince the judge, they are “given a bond and can request asylum”, in the best of cases they are released or another document that legalizes their entry into the country.
Between October 1 and November 2 of this year, Coast Guard crews intercepted 248 Cubans, a number that is increasing.
This latest interception comes after the United States Coast Guard reported the return this Saturday of 16 Cubans to the island after being found in two boats, one in the vicinity of Jupiter Inlet Colony and a second in Key West, Florida (USA). UU) without specifying the date of these events.
The rafters were returned by the ship’s crew Isaac May, as published on Twitter by the Coast Guard itself, which urges family members to contact the US embassy or its representation in the country in which they reside to obtain information about their loved ones.
Between October 1 and November 2 of this year, Coast Guard crews intercepted 248 Cubans, a number that is increasing. Just last November 3 were returned 31 rafters To Cuba. They were intercepted in four operations that took place off the coasts of Florida and the Bahamas.
In early November, the United States Embassy in Cuba posted a video on his Twitter account in which a coast guard warns of the dangers of jumping into the sea in improvised boats. “The Straits of Florida is unforgiving. Please don’t face the sea,” he asks.
Meanwhile, in Mexico local media reported that the ship’s crew Bergitta, flying the Bahamian flag, rescued 11 Cuban rafters at sea and delivered them in the port of Progreso, in the Mexican state of Yucatán, to a Navy ship.
The newspaper The Day detailed that in the rustic boat they were also found two lifeless rafters. After the foreigners were treated by paramedical personnel, elements of the National Guard “handed them over to immigration personnel.” And it was reported that the bodies of the deceased will be repatriated.
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