US Coast Guard Searches for a Missing Boat with Cubans

Covid-19 may have influenced the drop in the numbers of rafters who tried to reach the United States (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 22 August 2020 — The United States Coast Guard is looking for eight Cubans, including two children, who were traveling in a boat that left Caibarién, located on the north coast of Villa Clara province, just as Storm Laura, which could become in hurricane, approached the Caribbean.

The migrants left on August 15 and sought to reach the southern coast of Florida.

Authorities issued an alert in a statement asking anyone with information on the whereabouts of the Cubans to call 305-415-6800.

Last July, a group of 31 Cuban rafters reached the coasts of Key West, Florida, according to local media.

Cubans were received for decades as refugees in South Florida. The policy known as “wet foot/dry foot” was applied to them, which allowed Cuban citizens who arrived in the United States without a visa to obtain residency in an expeditious manner, and which then-President Barack Obama ended in January 2017.

Before the end of this policy, the Coast Guard counted the entry of 1,845 rafters.

The Cuban Adjustment Law, still in force, which makes it possible to regularize the immigration status of Cubans after a year of permanence in the United States, has among its requirements that the applicant has been legally admitted to a border port. Those who arrive illegally by sea cannot benefit from this rule.

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