Six Cubans were detained after arriving by boat at Harvey Beach, in Coral Gardens, Montego Bay, in the Jamaican parish of St. James, on Monday night.
It was local residents who spotted the vessel around 7:00 p.m. and alerted the authorities, according to Radio Jamaica News.
The police arrived at the scene and arrested the six migrants. Subsequently, the authorities launched a search due to the possibility that others traveling in the vessel may have managed to escape.
The Cubans were handed over to immigration authorities and, the next day, formally charged with illegal entry to Jamaica, according to the broadcaster IRIE FM.
Kauna McKenzie, director of communications for the Passport, Immigration and Citizenship Agency (PICA), confirmed that the six will have to appear before a court soon.
For the moment, the authorities have not revealed their identities nor have they informed whether any other potential occupants of the vessel were located during the search.
An increasingly used route by Cubans
The northern coast of Jamaica has become a recurring destination for boats coming from Cuba amid the ongoing migration exodus affecting the island.
Precisely, Harvey Beach was the scene of a similar incident in June 2025, when six Cuban rafters were detained after landing on that beach.
Months earlier, in October 2024, another 10 Cubans were detained in St. James. In December of that year, Jamaican authorities repatriated 21 Cuban migrants by sea to Santiago de Cuba.
More recently, in May 2026, three Cubans who had stayed irregularly in Jamaica for months were fined and received expulsion orders after appearing before a court in St. James.
The six detainees this week are now awaiting their appearance in front of the Jamaican court on charges of illegal entry.
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