14ymedio, Havana, 15 April 2022 — Two of the eight ’rafters’ who reached land in the Florida Keys had to be taken to hospital as they were suffering from “hypothermia,” according to information in social media published by Walter N. Slosar, Border Patrol agent in Miami. The migrants were detained on two separate occasions.
The number of people arriving by boat went up at the beginning of April, when the border official reported “77 persons from four different countries” in two days. Included among these were 15 Cubans, who were arrested when they arrived at Cayo Hueso.
The Coastguard has intercepted 730 boats arriving by sea since October 1, 2021. The background of the exodus of Cubans to Florida has data current to March. Sixteen from the island were arrested on the 17th. This group joins that of March 12, when another 17 migrants were arrested, who also landed in the Keys. Up to that point, agent Slosar recorded more than 60 maritime smuggling incidents.
According to the data of the United States Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) the last five months have seen a total of 47,331 Cubans as illegal immigrants coming overland to the country, by way of the Mexican border. In February alone, 16,557 entries were registered.
Last January 9,827 Cuban immigrants were detained, about 13 times more than the 732 during the same month in 2020, when Donald Trump was still in the White House.
Between Wednesday and Thursday of this week, the Border Patrol agents in Rio Grande Valley detained 306 immigrants on two separate occasions. “The migrants came from Cuba and various countries in Central and South America,” according to information from the Federal agency.
“The groups were made up of 115 single adults, 90 family members, and 89 unaccompanied children,” reported the Border Patrol.
On April 11th alone, the border agents in Rio Grande Valley arrested four groups who were intercepted in pairs in La Grulla and Roma, a total of 754 migrants from Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela and Guatemala. “The groups constituted 356 single adults, 275 family members, 123 unaccompanied children; including two US citizens who came with their mother from Guatemala,” reported the Border Patrol.
Translated by GH
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