The United States Border Patrol took 20 Cubans into custody after making landfall on Wednesday at Gran Pino Key. According to data shared on their social networks by the chief officer of the Miami sector, Walter Slosar, this group joins another 76 rafters who arrived in Florida on different boats between last Saturday and Monday.
The arrival of these Cubans comes a day after Walter Slosar met with Cuban-American Congressman Carlos Giménez, with whom he spoke about border security operations in Florida. the republicanwho is seeking reelection, has expressed concern about having a land and sea strategy to contain “the illegal entry of migrants, drugs and weapons.”
According to the Center for Democracy and Development in the Americas, the exodus of Cubans by sea and by land already exceeds the figures recorded during the Mariel crisis of 1980 and the Balseros of 1994. In the last ten months, the authorities Americans have intercepted nearly 178,000 Cubans.
Faced with the constant arrival of rafters who are taken into custody, the insistence of family members to know their identity and that of those who are intercepted by the Coast Guard, Slosar asked that they “communicate with their local government representative” for the requested information.
Last Monday afternoon, Slosar reported the arrival of two boats; A boat with the name Camare was detected with 31 people in Cayo Marquesa and a second with 10 migrants arrived in Islamorada.
The arrival of these Cubans comes a day after Walter Slosar met with Cuban-American Congressman Carlos Giménez, with whom he spoke about border security operations in Florida.
That same day in the morning, the chief officer of the Border Patrol had reported the arrest of seven Cubans, who arrived at Cayo Largo. Some of the crew members with signs of dehydration let him know that they spent two weeks adrift in the fishing boat they were traveling in before making landfall.
On Sunday, a Cuban was arrested after arriving in a kayak inflatable to Marathon beach. “The individual will be processed for removal proceedings,” Slosar detailed on his Twitter account. A day earlier he gave details of another 27 rafters who had been taken into custody.
For its part, the US Coast Guard repatriated “62 Cubans and a dog (four other pets had already been returned on August 19)” on board the ship on Tuesday. Charles David Jr.. According to chief officer Stephen Lehman, any migrant who is intercepted “will be repatriated.”
Meanwhile, the Cuban government reported the repatriation, last Saturday, of 203 irregular migrants through the port of Orozco, in Artemisa. Among the group were 25 children and 42 women.
Coast Guard data indicates that as of October 1, 2021, crews they have intercepted 4,575 Cubans.
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