RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The interception occurred last Tuesday, when a Coast Guard surveillance aircraft notified Key West naval station of the presence of a “rustic raft with 14 people on board” some 26 miles (41 kilometers) southeast of Anguilla Key.
The 14 Cubans were transferred to a cutter for repatriation today as the increase in interceptions and repatriations by sea over 2020 and 2019 continues.
“Sailing in an unseaworthy vessel is dangerous and may result in lives lost,” Coast Guard liaison officer Mario Gil cautioned in a statement, calling on mariners to “report any potential migrant voyages to help prevent deaths at sea.”
Since October 1, 2020 the U.S. Coast Guard has intercepted 595 Cubans at sea compared to 49 in the whole of 2020.
According to figures provided by U.S. authorities, 313 Cuban migrants were intercepted in 2019, 259 in 2018, while 1,468 and 5,396 were intercepted at sea in 2017 and 2016, respectively.
Cubans with no legal permits to enter the U.S. were allowed to do so until January 12, 2017 when then-president Barack Obama revoked the immigration benefits by executive order canceling the “wet foot/dry foot” policy granting a temporary permit to Cubans reaching U.S. soil.
Since then, Cubans who illegally enter the United States do not have a temporary residence permit and should they request political asylum they must do so on an equal footing with other immigrants.