The mobilization of National Guard troops promoted last week by the governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, has not prevented the disembarkation of rafters. In the last 24 hours, 50 Cubans did so, two groups in Cayo Víbora and another one in Cayos Marquesas, the chief officer of the Border Patrol Walter Slosar reported on his social networks.
In one of the images shared by the official, 10 rafters are seen leaving the rustic boat. Slosar, who did not offer further details about these people, documented the arrival of another 72 Cubans19 last Tuesday and 53 on Sunday.
“Mommy, I’m here. I made it,” Neile González tells his three-year-old daughter who is listening on her cell phone. She, a 21-year-old pharmacist, left the island along with 20 other Cubans and on January 11 the group arrived in Duck Key, Miami 51 published.
#IslaEnFuga After a break, this raft with Cubans was intercepted shortly before making landfall by the US Coast Guard, which prevented the migrants from achieving their dream of emigrating to the North American country | USCGSoutheast/Twitter pic.twitter.com/SzmYtPFEs0
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González told the local media that during the 25-hour journey, their propeller broke. “We had a hard time fixing it. I was very scared and I thought of my daughter and my mother, who was doing it for them.”
The exodus of Cuban rafters increased alarmingly in the last two weeks, despite the new humanitarian permit established by the United States. “More than 800 rafters have arrived in the Keys,” said Adam Hoffner, the head of the Customs and Border Protection Division of Operations.
The rafters who have managed to make landfall are being given an expedited order of deportation, the verdict that a judge issues for expulsion of a person but that can be reversed with legal advice. This order has an expiration period of 60 days. Hence, many Cubans do not know if they will really be deported or will be able to opt for another solution.
This Thursday the Coast Guard repatriated to Cuba 177 people aboard the ships paul valent Y robert yereds. The lieutenant commander of the Coast Guard, Mark Cobb, stressed in a statement that the US Embassy in Cuba resumed the processing of all immigration visas in Havana for the officer.
“With the new legal pathways to enter the United States announced by the White House and the Department of Homeland Security last week, we urge all individuals to use safe and legal means,” Cobb reiterated.
Yamile Leyva was granted permission in two days and this Saturday she hopes to be reunited with her son whom she has not seen for four years. “Everything was so fast that I said, no, it can’t be that they are already calling me,” told to Univision. The only inconvenience that happened was the lousy internet service that Cuba has and had to resort to a VPN application for the face scan that the application requires.
Since last October 1, there are already 4,917 Cubans who have seen their attempt to reach Florida frustrated.
This Thursday, the Coast Guard also reported the interception of a boat with 25 Haitians in the vicinity of Biscayne Bay, Miami (Florida). Some of these migrants jumped into the sea when they were discovered by the authorities, but they were detained and taken to Virginia Park, where they received medical attention.
The local channel NBC6, which broadcast live the moment of the arrest of the boat. The images transmitted from a helicopter of the aforementioned channel showed several vessels of the Coast Guard, the Miami-Dade Police and other response agencies to the massive landings of Haitians and Cubans.
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