14ymedio/EFE, Havana, April 20, 2023 – The United States Coast Guard deported 30 rafters to the Island this Thursday aboard the ship William Trump. The Coast Guard said on its social networks that they were intercepted offshore near the Bahamas earlier this week.
The US authorities reiterated that those who try to arrive by sea irregularly to southern Florida should desist from their attempts because they will be deported. Since October 1 of last year, the Coast Guard has thwarted the landing of more than 6,200 Cuban rafters and has returned 2,387 people to the Island in more than three months.
In the first week of April, the maritime agency repatriated 396 migrants of different nationalities intercepted on the high seas between March 31 and April 7.
At the beginning of 2023, the United States implemented a policy to welcome 30,000 monthly migrants from Venezuela, Haiti, Cuba and Nicaragua.
In parallel, the US has immediately expelled to Mexico the undocumented from those countries who try to cross the southern border in an irregular manner. The Government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador, for its part, agreed to admit 30,000 migrants a month who are returned from U.S. territory.
This Thursday, the Cuban Ministry of the Interior reported that there have already been 3,238 Cubans returned by several countries this year. This figure doesn’t include the 30 people deported from Florida.
In the last two days, the Governments of the Cayman Islands and the Bahamas deported six and 44 Cubans, respectively, the report said.
In addition, it was pointed out that two of the returned Cubans were on probation for criminal penalties at the time of illegally leaving the Island. They were “placed at the disposal of the corresponding courts for the revocation of said benefit.”
Another of the migrants, the Ministry of the Interior explained, “was arrested for allegedly participating in “a criminal act that is being investigated by the police.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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