The United States Coast Guard reported Thursday that in the last seven days it has repatriated 77 rafters to Cuba and the Bahamas. Through its social networks, the agency reiterated that the US border is closed to illegal migration. “If you try, it will result in your disqualification from the parole process ( parole humanitarian)”, he stressed in a statement Lt. Matt Miller.
The US government returned last Tuesday to 23 Cubans who had left the island in two rustic boats. With Thursday’s group, there are already more than 2,898 rafters returned by the US Coast Guard in 48 operations during 2023.
Since October 1, 2022, the US authorities have prevented the disembarkation of 6,701 Cubans and 4,512 Haitians. Officer Miller insisted that the United States maintains its commitment to “regular, safe, and orderly migration,” and as is customary in every deportation, he insisted on “the danger and life-threatening conditions that illegal departures from the country represent by sea”.
#ThisJustIn @USCG repatriated, transferred 77 people to Cuba & Bahamas from 5 separate encounters. Maritime borders are closed for unlawful entry to the US. If attempted, it will result in disqualification for Cuba & Haiti parole process. More here: https://t.co/ixu18FXzuZ pic.twitter.com/ZJmE3vK9jH
—USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) May 26, 2023
Cuba and the US have a bilateral agreement so that all migrants who arrive by sea are returned to the island. Both countries agreed last November to resume deportation flights for “inadmissible” migrants on US soil.
At the end of January, he landed on the Island the first of these flights with 123 deported Cubans83 of these people arrived in the US through the southern border with Mexico and another 43 were intercepted at sea in operations between 2019 and 2022. On May 10, he arrived in Havana the second flight with 66 deporteesincluding six women.
The deportation of these Cubans considered “inadmissible” was agreed between both governments in 2017, but the program was interrupted by the pandemic and the cooling of relations after the “thaw” period.
So far in 2023, Cuba has also received repatriated migrants from the Bahamas, the Dominican Republic, and Mexico. The Ministry of the Interior specified that this year there are 3,836 deportees.
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