The US Will Deploy More Troops and Ships in Florida To Prevent Migration by Sea From Cuba

US Navy ships during a deployment / EFE

14ymedio bigger14ymedio/Agencies, Madrid, 22 January 2025 — The United States Coast Guard announced on Tuesday “immediate actions” in the Strait of Florida to comply with the executive orders of the new president, Donald Trump, against illegal immigration. In a statement, Admiral Kevin Lunday, interim commander of the corps, explained that the number of “ships, aircraft, boats and specialized forces” in the Strait of Florida “to deter and prevent massive maritime migration from Haiti and Cuba” will be increased.

In addition to the maritime border between the Bahamas and southern Florida, the southwest maritime border with Mexico in the Pacific and the maritime border between Texas and Mexico in what they already call “the Gulf of America,” surveillance will also focus around Alaska, Hawaii, the US territories of Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa – the latter three in Oceania – Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.

The surveillance will also focus on Alaska, Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands

“Together, in coordination with our colleagues from the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Defense, we will detect, deter and intercept illegal migration, drug smuggling and other terrorist activities.”

The announcement coincided with the dismissal by Donald Trump, this same Tuesday, of Admiral Linda Lee Fagan as commander of the Coast Guard. In a brief statement, the acting Secretary of Homeland Security, Benjamin Huffman, confirmed that Fagan – the first female head of a branch of the Armed Forces in the United States, appointed to her position by Joe Biden in 2021 – had been relieved of her duties after a “long and illustrious career.”

However, a senior official of the Department of Homeland Security told Reuters anonymously that the admiral’s dismissal was due to “leadership deficiencies, operational failures and inability to advance the strategic objectives of the United States Coast Guard.” According to this same source, one of the reasons was Fagan’s “excessive” attention to the “DEI policies” (diversity, equity and inclusion).

Trump reinstated yesterday in its full scope the “immediate expulsion” of migrants

Trump reinstated yesterday in its full scope the “immediate expulsion” of migrants, a policy that allows the rapid deportation of undocumented migrants without a hearing, which had been eliminated during Biden’s mandate.

Created in 1996, the measure had already been applied during the first Trump Administration (2017-2021) to undocumented migrants who had been in the United States for less than two years. It is again being implemented.

Before the first Trump Administration, immediate expulsion applied only to undocumented people who had entered the United States in the previous 14 days and were within a radius of 100 miles (161 kilometers) of the border.

In cases of immediate or accelerated expulsion, due process is minimal and no immigration judge can intervene. Even federal judges do not have the power to hear an appeal. In most cases, the person subject to an immediate expulsion order cannot return to the country for a period of five years.

In cases of immediate or accelerated expulsion, due process is minimal and no immigration judge can intervene

The application of immediate expulsion peaked during the 2013 fiscal year, when 193,000 people were deported under this policy, a figure that accounted for 43% of the total expulsions in that period, according to the US Immigration Council.

This rule is in addition to the series of measures adopted by the Republican Administration against immigration; among others, the elimination by executive order of the right to citizenship by birth in the case of children of parents who are undocumented or have temporary immigration status.

That order, signed by Trump just hours after taking office, has already been the subject of a lawsuit filed by a group of 18 states with Democratic governors, who claim that it is “illegal” and unconstitutional. Opponents point out, in fact, that Amendment 14 of the US Constitution establishes that every person born on American soil automatically obtains nationality, regardless of the immigration status of their parents.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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