MIAMI, United States. – A total of 26 Cuban rafters (20 adults and six minors) were taken into custody of the US Border Patrol this Friday after making landfall on the Marquesas Keys, uninhabited islands west of Key West, reported on Twitter Coast Guard Officer Walter N. Slosar.
According to that source, the Cuban migrants crossed the Florida Straits in a homemade boat.
Although to a lesser extent in 2023, migrants from the Island have continued to arrive on the coasts of the United States after the entry into force of the parole of the Biden administration, by which 30,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans should benefit each month.
In the case of the Island, until the beginning of April some 14,000 Cubans had benefited from this programaccording to the State Department.
Last Sunday, a group of 27 Cuban rafters was returned to the island by the United States Coast Guard, that entity reported in a statement. The report indicates that the repatriated migrants had been intercepted on Wednesday of the previous week about 12 miles from Cayo Sal Bank, in the Bahamas.
On Thursday, April 13, the Coast Guard will also repatriated 28 Cuban rafters located days before about 38 miles north of the province of Villa Clara by the crew of the USCGC Stone cutter.
“The Coast Guard maintains a strong maritime presence to detect and intercept anyone attempting to illegally emigrate by sea in the Straits of Florida and the Caribbean region,” Lt. Peter Hutchison said after reporting on the operation.
In this sense, the officer specified that “no one should risk their life in unsafe rustic boats in unpredictable seas.”
From October 1, 2022 —beginning of fiscal year 2023— to April 13, 2023, the United States Coast Guard crews intercepted 6,317 Cuban rafters, 135 more than all those detained in the previous year.
On April 10 of this year, the Cuban Ministry of the Interior (MININT) reported that the number of Cuban migrants deported in 2023 from different countries amounted to 3,131.
