A group of 10 Cuban immigrants sailing on a small boat was intercepted this week by the Coast Guard about 20 miles from Matecumbe Key in the Florida Keys, the agency said Friday.
The Cubans, who did not require medical attention, were trying to “illegally enter US territory,” the coastguards said in a statement.
The intercepted immigrants, all adults, were taken aboard ship “Isaac Mayo” of the Coast Guard and transferred to the Cuban authorities for their repatriation.
“Illegal trips by sea are extremely dangerous” because, often, they are carried out on “homemade boats that are not suitable for transport” and “put in great danger the safety of people on board,” recalled Lieutenant JG Karrie Jeffries , from the Coast Guard.
In January of 2017, then President Barack Obama (2009-2017) canceled the “wet feet / dry feet” policy decreed in 1995, whereby Cubans who touched territory were favored with the Cuban Adjustment Act and could stay in the country. country and even obtain permanent residence, while the others were deported to the island.
Shortly before the elimination of this benefit, an unusual arrival of migrants from the Caribbean country was recorded in the Straits of Florida, in view of the fact that many anticipated the end of “wet feet / dry feet”, a migratory wave that has declined in the last years. (EFEUSA)
