Agents from the United States Border Patrol (USBP) and associated agencies detained 33 Cuban rafters who managed to reach the shores of the Florida Keys on Tuesday morning.
The chief agent of the Border Patrol in the Miami Sector, Samuel Briggs II, reported in a brief statement on the social network X that the officers had just responded to a landing of migrants in Key West, where they found a group of Cubans.
Briggs announced that immigrants would be placed in federal custody and processed for expulsion, according to the immigration policies of the U.S. government.
The note did not specify the health status of the Cuban rafters after arriving on U.S. soil, nor details such as the composition of the group and where they were from on the island.
Just five days ago, the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) intercepted 17 rafters near the Florida Keys and returned them to Cuba.
The U.S. government has reiterated that migrants who arrive by sea and are apprehended by Border Patrol will be processed by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), in order to be returned to their country of origin, with a ban on re-entering the U.S. legally for five years.
However, despite the efforts of U.S. authorities to deter illegal maritime migration, many Cubans continue to risk crossing the Florida Strait in precarious vessels, as they have no legal options to leave the country, which is mired in a deep widespread crisis.
The harsh living conditions, the lack of freedoms, and the lack of opportunities in Cuba continue to generate a massive and irregular exodus from the island to the United States, both by sea and by land.
Just last June, 17,563 Cubans entered through the borders of the U.S., according to data published by the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP). Of that total, 6,216 came by sea, confirming that the influx of Cuban rafters to the North American country continues.
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