Seven Cuban rafters who managed to reach Cayo Largo, Florida, this Saturday, were detected and detained by agents of the United States Border Patrol (USBP) in the Miami sector, after landing.
Samuel Briggs II, chief agent of the USBP in the Miami sector, reported on the incident in a post on the social network X, where he warned that "illegal maritime migration ventures during these suffocating temperatures are extremely dangerous and potentially deadly."
The avalanche of Cuban migrants, mainly heading towards the United States, whether by sea or land, shows no signs of coming to an end.
A total of 17,870 Cubans arrived by sea and land to the northern country last April, according to statistics published this week by the Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
That figure completes a total of 144,378 arrivals during the current fiscal year 2024, which began on October 1, and demonstrates that the largest migratory exodus in Cuba's history continues unabated.
In recent weeks, news of Cuban rafters landing on U.S. coasts and other countries, shipwrecks, interceptions, and rescues by cruise ships in high seas have continued to occur, with tragic events such as the death of four immigrants when the boat they were traveling on drifted.
In that last incident, four other Cubans survived, who were rescued by Mexican fishermen off the coast of San Fernando, Tamaulipas, Mexico.
The immigrants, in a severe state of dehydration and malnutrition, received medical attention at a hospital center in that country and, days later, the Mexican government granted them residency.
This week, the rescue of three more rafters was reported off the coast of Progreso, in the Yucatán Peninsula. The men were in critical condition.
The previous week, the arrival of seven Cuban migrants in the Cayman Islands on a homemade boat was reported, but the group decided to continue their maritime journey, according to the authorities of that British Overseas Territory located in the Caribbean Sea.
Also on those days, about eight or nine immigrants arrived at a Miami-Dade beach on a speedboat. Two of them, whose nationality was not revealed, were detained, while the rest managed to escape from the authorities.
The US government continues to insist that all individuals who attempt or arrive illegally by sea will not be allowed to remain in the country, will be processed in accordance with US laws and policies, and returned to their home country or country of departure.
Migrants who arrive by sea and are detained by the Border Patrol after touching U.S. soil are processed to be returned to their home nation by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency and the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), with the prohibition of legally reentering that country for five years.
Last Friday, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) repatriated 26 Cuban migrants who had been intercepted on Tuesday morning aboard a rustic vessel near Crocker Reef, close to the Florida Keys, according to a statement from the agency.
The Cuban Ministry of the Interior also reported that the rafters had left the country through Villa Clara and were intercepted after three days at sea.
According to the government source, with this, there have been 40 operations during 2024, in which 571 immigrants have been returned from various countries in the region.
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