14ymedio, Havana, 13 March 2022 — The United States Border Patrol placed 17 Cuban rafters “in custody” this Saturday after they “made landfall in the Florida Keys,” according to agent Walter N. Slosar. This detention corresponds to one of the “60 maritime smuggling events” recorded on the south coast.
The migrants arrived in the archipelago in a sailboat. After being detained, they were taken, as usual, to a migration center, where they were given the opportunity to show “credible fear” of being returned to the island.
If the Cubans convince the judge, they are “given a bond and can request asylum,” said immigration attorney Willy Allen. In the best of cases, they are released and given a document that legalizes their entry into the country.
On March 9, officer N. Slosar announced the “arrest of 29 Cuban migrants” after arriving in the Florida Keys in “a rustic boat” that had an adapted motor.
According to data from the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP), in January, the last month for which records are available, 9,827 Cuban immigrants were detained, nearly 13 times more than the 732 in the same month of 2020, when Donald Trump was still in the White House.
The 9,827 Cubans intercepted on the southeastern border of the United States in January are part of the more than 153,000 immigrants detained in total that month, the latest in a wave of undocumented immigrants who, since President Joe Biden came to power, have tried enter the country irregularly or have applied for asylum.
The arrival of Cubans in the United States is also registered by sea, and since October 1, 2021, when the current fiscal year began, the Coast Guard has intercepted 730.
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