The Border Patrol took into custody 23 Cubans, including five children, who made landfall this Wednesday in the Florida Keys. The rafters, according to official Walter Slosar, arrived aboard a “homemade boat” named Venus and with registration BM5112F.
The rafters, who left the island last Tuesday, said they are originally from Playa Baracoa, in Artemisa, and that after 17 hours of crossing they reached their goal. “We’re fine. One of them is dizzy, but they already treated him in the ambulance,” one of the Cubans told the YouTube channel Showbiz Brito TV.
He was confident that the group will obtain a residence permit ( parole) and not be returned to the Island. All of them were taken to the facilities of the Broward Transitional Center, where the six rafters who made landfall on April 29 on a Miami beach and that they must appear before the Court on June 12.
From last October to April, 114,000 Cubans have arrived in the US, according to figures from the Customs and Border Protection Office. The exodus has worsened in recent months, as well as interceptions and repatriations.
This Wednesday the Coast Guard reported the return to the Island of 32 people on board the ship Margaret Norvell. According to data offered by the lieutenant E’bria Karega, the returnees were detained Sunday on a boat located 65 miles from Key West. He warned of how risky rafting is during hurricane season.
“Illegally migrating through the Florida Straits is dangerous,” Karega said in a statement. Since October 1, 2021, Coast Guard crews have intercepted 2,248 Cubans.
the same ship Margaret Norvell repatriated 49 Cubans last Monday. According to the Coast Guard, the rafters were arrested in three interceptions. “Illegal migration during this time is even more treacherous and life-threatening,” warned Lt. Matthew Miller.
Last Friday the crew of the cruise Mardi Grasof the Carnival company, rescued 16 Cuban rafters, including 11 women and five men, who were traveling to Florida, the company reported in a statement.
The rafters were taken aboard the cruise ship, where they were treated by the doctor and given clothes and food. Later, on the same Friday afternoon, they were handed over to Coast Guard personnel in one of their ships deployed in that area.
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