The United States Coast Guard repatriated 970 Cubans to the island this Saturday. “The crews that patrol the Florida Straits, the Windward and Mona Passages prevented hundreds of rafters from reaching the US by sea between January 6 and 13,” the maritime authorities said on their social networks.
In the same message, the Coast Guard reported the additional detention of 239 Cubans at sea. Brendan McPherson, Rear Admiral of the Coast Guard warned that anyone caught attempting to illegally set foot on US soil will be repatriated to their home country and as a consequence “will not be eligible for other immigration options.”
The journalist of miami heraldDavid Goodhue, shared on his social networks a video of a Coast Guard plane flying over the Florida Straits “in search of migrants.”
Coast Guard air crew patrolling for migrants above the Florida Straits. pic.twitter.com/9nD6l9D1kF
—David Goodhue (@DavidGoodhue) January 15, 2023
This Saturday the Cuban Ministry of the Interior He specified that “1,115 people have been repatriated in the first 13 days of the year.” He confirmed that the US prevented 970 rafters from reaching Florida after six interceptions. “129 from the Bahamas and 16 from the Cayman Islands were also returned.”
“Those returned in these first days of the year represent 9% of the total returns in 2022,” according to the Cuban authorities. Last Sunday “the largest return in recent years” occurred by the US Coast Guard with 273 people who “had participated in illegal departures from the country” through a port in Matanzas.
Faced with the exodus of rafters to Florida, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis promoted last week the mobilization of National Guard troopsbut this has not prevented the disembarkation between Thursday and Friday of 50 Cubans, two groups in Cayo Víbora and another one in Cayos Marquesas.
Since October 1, 2022, the Coast Guard has frustrated the crossing of 4,917 Cubans and cut short their American dream.
The US authorities insisted on how dangerous it is to make trips in rustic boats. “Last fiscal year, there were 65 confirmed deaths related to rafter ventures,” recalled the Coast Guard. “This year there are already 13.”
At the beginning of this year, the Joe Biden Administration began the program in which, in exchange for a humanitarian permit for 30,000 migrants per month, the United States will deport Cubans and others in an illegal situation.
Mexico agreed to receive irregular migrants who are expelled from the neighboring country while the US explores mechanisms to increase investment in Central America and tackle the root causes of forced migration, a source told the EFE news agency.
According to Border Patrol data between January and December 2022, 294,816 island nationals were detained, 209,832 Nicaraguans, 157,855 Venezuelans, 154,919 Colombians, 59,937 Haitians, 53,175 Ecuadorians and 831,455 of other nationalities. In total there were 1,761,989 people.
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