Miami, United States. – The United States Coast Guard repatriated 16 Cuban Balseros on Tuesday after having intercepted them, last Friday, in an improvised boat just over 24 kilometers to the southwest of Gun Cay, Bahamas, according to the institution in A statement.
The detection of the vessel, 25 feet in length, occurred last Friday when an HC-144 plane of the Coast Guard Air Station in Miami located it and notified the operators of the Miami sector command center. Subsequently, the handwar ship crew was sent to the area to carry out the interdiction.
“Our crew continue to prioritize the safety of life in the sea while guaranteeing maximum security in the integrity of our borders,” said the officer in charge of Manowar, Brodie Macdonald. He also stressed that the Coast Guard will continue to comply with its border security mission in the Florida Strait and the Caribbean Sea.
After being transferred aboard a ship of the Coast Guard, the migrants underwent an identification process and received food, shelter and basic medical care before being repatriated to Cuba, according to the statement of the Coast Guard.
Repatriation is part of the Border Surveillance and Control Strategy of the National Security Task Force-Southeast (HSTF-SE), which maintains a constant presence in the Florida Strait, the passage of the winds , the passage of the Mona and the Caribbean Sea as part of Operation Vigilant Sentry, which seeks to avoid illegal maritime entry to the US and protect the lives of those who try to migrate irregularly.
“Anyone who tries to enter the United States illegally will be intercepted and repatriated, according to US laws and policies,” the Coast Guard warned.
Since the beginning of fiscal year 2025, on October 1, US authorities have repatriated 98 Cuban migrants, a remarkably lower figure compared to the 749 returned to the island during fiscal year 2024.
Last month, the Coast Guard advertisement A reinforced operation in key points of the southeast border, including the Florida Strait, to contain the entry of irregular migrants by sea.
The measure responded to the executive orders on immigration that the president Donald Trump He signed after his possession.
“According to the president’s executive orders, I have ordered my operational commanders to immediately increase the assets (patrol vessels, airplanes, ships and deployable specialized forces) to increase the presence and approach of the Coast Guard,” said Admiral Kevin Lunday , Interim Commander of the Coast Guard.
Numerous groups of Cubans try to cross the Florida Strait to escape from Hard conditions of life on the island. In the midst of a context of food shortages and medical supplies and a serious inflationary crisis, many residents of the largest of the Antilles risk their lives to reach the American country.
Notwithstanding the current immigration crisis, for which almost half a million Cubans has entered the United States in the last three years, the program of parole Humanitarian launched by the Biden Administration in January 2023 (and suspended by the Trump administration) contributed to decrease the flow of balseros.
