MIAMI, United States. – The United States Border Patrol intercepted 55 Cuban migrants who made landfall near the Florida Keys this Thursday, indicated on Twitter Officer Walter N. Slosar of the Coast Guard.
According to that source, the rafters had been stranded on an island and were located by Border Patrol and Coast Guard agents.
Every week, dozens of Cubans approach the coast of Florida, where they are generally intercepted by Coast Guard agents and then deported to the Island. However, many of them perish at sea before reaching land.
Since October 1, 2022, the beginning of the current fiscal year, Coast Guard teams have intercepted nearly 1,000 Cuban migrants.
This Wednesday, 32 Cuban migrants were taken into U.S. Border Patrol custody after making landfall on an island 70 miles west of Key West, according to reported Slosar on Twitter.
On Tuesday, the Coast Guard repatriated 45 rafters from the Island that had been intercepted trying to reach the Florida coast.
Last Thursday, agents from the Miami Sector Border Patrol and the Florida Keys Sheriff’s Office intercepted 24 Cubans who made landfall near Marathon, according to reported Coast Guard officer Walter N. Slosar.
A day earlier, the Border Patrol also received 80 Cuban rafters who had made landfall on the Marquesas Keys, uninhabited islands west of Key West.
The previous Monday, it emerged that a family of 20 Cubans had reached the shores of the United States after setting sail from Cojímar, in Havana, in a speedboat and crossing the Straits of Florida in 10 and a half hours.
Meanwhile, the previous weekend, the crews of the William Flores and Paul Clark Coast Guardsmen, of the United States Coast Guard, repatriated 80 Cubans after several rescue operations off the coast of Florida, reported in a statement the US body.
“Illegal migration in rustic and improvised boats without safety equipment, such as a life jacket, is dangerous,” has warned Petty Officer 1st Class Nicole J. Groll, Coast Guard 7th District. “Risking their lives during these adventures causes their loved ones unnecessary anxiety about whether they are safe or lost at sea,” she added.
Recently, the United States embassy in Havana alerted Cuban rafters that it would strengthen surveillance in the Florida Strait, with a view to dealing with the increase in irregular maritime migration.
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