The maritime exodus from Cuba to the United States seems unstoppable, despite official warnings. Yesterday, Monday, 110 rafters were arrested in South Florida, in three groups. They are being processed by the Department of Customs and Border Protection for their eventual return to the Island, a policy that the Biden administration has intensified this year.
The arrival of the 110 Cubans was confirmed by the department spokesman, agent Walter N. Slosar, on his Twitter account. “Yesterday (Monday) 110 Cuban immigrants were taken into the custody of the United States Border Patrol. Agents responded to three migrant landings in the Florida Keys,” he wrote.
The coast guards insist that the migrants detained at sea will be repatriated to their countries of origin, which includes the Cubans. Other migrants who arrive by sea come mostly from Haiti, another Caribbean country that is going through a very serious political-social crisis, to the point that the daily The New York Times posted a note saying that Washington is considered a new multinational intervention.
This landing on Monday complements another of 18 rafters captured in the same area in the middle of a storm.
The Coast Guard have launched a campaign on social networks with the slogan #notelancesalmar, but it is not having much success. Cubans continue to risk a very dangerous journey. “This gives an idea that the social environment [en Cuba] It’s still very dilapidated without a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Al Sánchez, an analyst at the University of Florida.
The coast guard insists that migrants detained at sea will be repatriated to their countries of origin. However, the Department of Homeland Security, consulted in recent days by Radio/Televisión Martí, recalled that, as a policy, the United States protects migrants detained at sea so that they are not returned to a country where they fear persecution.
Currently, 22 Cubans are at the Guantánamo Naval Base waiting for a third country to grant them refuge.
These people were detained at sea and after being interviewed by officials from the Citizenship and Immigration Agency, they expressed credible fear if they were returned.
According to the Coast Guard, since October 1, 2022, when the current fiscal year began, around 2,243 Cuban migrants have been intercepted at sea.
