MIAMI, United States. – The United States Coast Guard has repatriated 3,724 Cuban rafters since the beginning of the current fiscal year (October 1). Thus, in just three months and just over a week to the end of 2022, the number of rafters intercepted in the Straits of Florida amounts to almost 4,000.
Every week, dozens of Cubans approach the Florida coast, 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.
The Island is experiencing an unprecedented migration crisis, where not only the rafters intercepted by the United States Coast Guard are counted, but also the nationals who travel to Nicaragua and undertake the journey to the southern border of the northern country.
This Thursday transcended that, during the previous 24 hours, 175 Cuban migrants had been taken into the custody of the United States Border Patrol.
Meanwhile, at the beginning of this week it was learned that Coast Guard teams were looking for nine Cubans who shipwrecked near the coast of Lake Worth, a city belonging to Palm Beach County, according to reported the US agency on Twitter.
“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 reinforce surveillance in the Straits of Florida, with a view to confronting the increase in irregular maritime migration.
The diplomatic legation on the island published on its social network account Twitter several tweets accompanied by a statement, in which he assures that the migration crisis has become a National Security concern.
“The Joint Homeland Security Task Force increased its operational posture to address a recent increase in irregular maritime migration. Agencies are increasing patrols and law enforcement by land, air and sea, day and night,” reads one of the Embassy publications.
The immigration agreements between Cuba and the US establish that people who are intercepted on the high seas will be returned to the island.
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