MIAMI, United States. – The Customs and Border Control Service (CBC) of the Cayman Islands activated a “mass migration contingency plan” given the increase in migrants, including numerous Cubans, who arrive on the shores of Cayman Brac, the media reported on Thursday. Cayman Marl Road.
The British territory spent $850,000 in 20221 on handling undocumented migrants alone.
“There is no benefit in intercepting migrants by sea before they arrive on our shores because they will still have to be processed in the same way in accordance with the International Convention for the Treatment of Refugees,” said the director of CBC, Charles Clifford.
In mid-April 2017, the governments of the Cayman Islands and Cuba modified and signed a memorandum of understanding that defines the terms within which Cuban migrants who land in that territory would be repatriated.
“A massive influx of migrants or refugees will inevitably present national security and budgetary challenges,” Clifford said.
The Cayman Islands Mass Migration Contingency Plan can be activated once the CBC Detention Center reaches 80% capacity.
“While the number of migrants does not exceed the Center’s capacity, it was important not to wait until the situation became unmanageable to inform and prepare the Committee on Mass Migration and, by extension, the agencies that make up the Committee,” added Clifford. .
Likewise, the official indicated: “Ensuring national security is at the forefront of our work in the processing of migrants, since we have the primary responsibility to keep our residents, visitors and, indeed, the migrants themselves, safe.”
Currently, Cuba is experiencing a migratory exodus that threatens to surpass the Mariel crisis. Weekly, dozens of Cuban rafters they take to the sea in an attempt to reach the shores of Florida. Most of them are intercepted by US authorities and returned to the Island.
However, others end up in territories far from the United States, not counting those who disappear and even die on the high seas.
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