The South Florida Coast Guard confirmed on Tuesday that they had a rather hectic weekend with the arrest of around 120 Cuban rafters traveling in fragile boats.
The authorities continue to insist that the crossing is very dangerous, but the Cuban economic crisis continues to push many citizens into the Straits of Florida. As he told OnCuba a spokesman for the entity, all the collected rafters will be returned to the Island in the coming days.
On Monday, Border Patrol agents apprehended 15 migrants, 13 men and two women, after they arrived at Haulover Beach, north of Miami, Miami Sector Chief Patrol Agent Walter Slosar said in a tweet.
On Saturday two groups of migrants, some 42 Cubans, made landfall in the Dry Tortugas and Islamorada, he added. And on Friday another 45 Cuban immigrants traveling on a fishing boat were detained upon arrival in Cayos Marquesas, a group of uninhabited islands west of Key West, he added in another tweet.
United States Coast Guard returns more than 300 rafters to Cuba in two days
Over the past year, U.S. Coast Guard crews have intercepted 5,154 Cubans, according to official data, the most since the agency reported 5,396 interceptions in 2016, the highest number since the 1990s.
Customs and Border Protection has deployed additional agents to the Miami sector amid a spike in immigrant arrivals, according to a CBP official.
“This year alone, we know of at least 61 migrants who have lost their lives at sea, and that is too many. It’s more than we’ve seen in decades,” Coast Guard Rear Admiral Brendan McPherson told CNN.
There has also been an increase in the number of Cuban immigrants crossing the US-Mexico border.
Since October 2021, Customs and Border Protection has located 175,674 Cubans at the southwest border, a huge increase from 38,674 last year.
McPherson said he doesn’t currently view the surge as a “crisis,” but the agency is still increasing its patrols on land, sea and in the air.
