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The United States Coast Guard (USCG) repatriated 27 Cuban rafters on Monday after rescuing them in the Yucatán Channel, where their vessel was on the verge of sinking, the agency confirmed in an official statement.
Although the number of Cuban rafters has decreased to a minimum in the last year and a half, last Thursday, the crew of the Coast Guard vessel Raymond Evans detected a boat without lights in the channel area and alerted operators at Sector Key West.
According to the report from the USCG Southeast District, the vessel sent a boat to investigate the craft, and upon arriving at the location, the Coast Guard confirmed that it was taking on water, had no fuel or drinking water onboard, and was in imminent danger of sinking.
The 27 Cuban migrants were first transferred to the vessel Raymond Evans for their "processing and final disposition," and then to the coast guard ship Winslow Griesser for repatriation.
The official statement specified that, once aboard a coast guard vessel, "foreigners are subjected to an identification process to determine their identity and are provided with food, water, accommodation, and basic medical care."
The commanding lieutenant Luis García, liaison officer of the Coast Guard in Cuba, warned that "attempting to migrate illegally by sea in overloaded and unsuitable vessels is extremely dangerous and puts lives at unnecessary risk."
García added that "the Coast Guard and its federal, state, and local partners maintain a constant presence in the maritime approaches to the United States to detect, deter, and prevent illegal maritime migration."
The images published by the USCG Southeast show a nighttime operation with a quick response boat and the intercepted wooden vessel, which shows visible deterioration, with clothing and belongings scattered inside.
This operation is part of the Vigilant Sentry Operation, the federal program of the Homeland Security Task Force–Southeast (HSTF-SE), which combines air, land, and maritime assets to curb irregular migration to the United States.
This Thursday, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported another 96 Cubans on a flight to Havana, bringing the total number of people returned to the island in the first half of 2026 to 740, distributed over 25 operations from various countries, according to figures from Cuba's Ministry of the Interior (Minint).
During President Donald Trump's second term, the pace of Cuban deportations has skyrocketed: in just 18 months, there were completed 18 direct flights to Havana, with 2,164 individuals, more than double the 978 repatriated during Joe Biden's entire presidency, on 21 flights between April 2023 and December 2024.
The arrests of Cuban migrants by ICE increased by 463% between late 2024 and early 2026, a figure that reflects the intensification of migration pressures on the Cuban community.
The Yucatán Channel, which separates the Mexican peninsula from Cuba, is one of the most commonly used maritime routes by those attempting to reach U.S. territory in precarious boats, exposing themselves to shipwrecks, dehydration, and other dangers at sea.
According to data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Ministry of Interior of Cuba compiled by the digital site Café Fuerte, since the resumption of deportation flights in April 2023, a total of 3,142 Cuban migrants have been returned in 39 air operations. Trump is the president who has deported the most Cubans in the history of the United States, with 5,549.
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