Coast Guard tries to block surge of Cuban refugees


  • By TN News Service
  • 7 hrs ago


MIAMI — As the surge in Cubans trying to flee to the United States continues, the Coast Guard reported Friday that it has returned 232 Cuban migrants to Cuba just since Sept. 22.

These repatriations are a result of 19 separate at-sea migrant interdictions in the South Florida Straits.
“Attempts of illegal migration on the ocean are often perilous voyages that result in the loss of many lives,” said Capt. Scott Clendenin, Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton commanding officer. “While our mission is to detect and deter illegal migration, it is also to save the lives of those attempting these deadly voyages aboard unseaworthy vessels before tragedy strikes.”

The Coast Guard has observed a steady increase in illegal maritime migration attempts to the Southeastern U.S. from Cuba. Since Oct. 1, 2015, the Coast Guard 7th District estimates that 7,358 Cubans have attempted to illegally migrate via the sea compared to 4,473 in fiscal year 2015.

During the fiscal year that ended Friday, the Coast Guard reported a 65 percent increase in Cuban migration flow compared to the 2015 fiscal year.

These numbers represent the total number of at-sea interdictions, landings and disruptions in the Florida Straits, the Caribbean and Atlantic.

The Pew Research Center reported in August that the number of Cubans who have entered the U.S. has spiked dramatically since President Obama announced a renewal of ties with the island nation in late 2014.

Under current law, Cubans seeking to enter the U.S. may receive different treatment than other immigrants under the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966.

Cubans fear the act will be abolished by the Obama administration.

Under the act, Cubans hoping to live in the U.S. legally need only show up at a port of entry and pass an inspection, which includes a check of criminal and immigration history in the U.S.

After a year in the country, they may apply for legal permanent residence.

During the first 10 months of fiscal year 2016, 46,635 Cubans have entered the U.S. via ports of entry – already surpassing full fiscal year 2015’s total of 43,159, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection data obtained by Pew through a public records request.

Fiscal 2015 was a surge year and was up 78 percent over 2014, when 24,278 Cubans entered the U.S.
And those 2014 numbers increased dramatically after the Cuban government lifted travel restrictions that year.

These totals are significantly higher than in all of fiscal 2011, when 7,759 Cubans came into the U.S.


Pew said the surge in the number of Cubans entering the country began in the months immediately following the president’s announcement. From January to March 2015, 9,900 Cubans entered the U.S., more than double the 4,746 who arrived during the same time period in 2014.

The surge continued into fiscal 2016 and peaked in the first quarter (October to December 2015), when 16,444 Cubans entered the U.S., an increase of 78 percent compared with the same quarter of fiscal 2015. The number of Cubans entering the U.S. has ebbed somewhat since.

Thousands of Cubans have migrated to the U.S. by land. Many fly to Ecuador, then travel north through Central America and Mexico.

However, as some Central American countries have close their borders to the flow, this route has grown more difficult to travel, and a number of Cuban immigrants have been stranded on their way to the U.S., Pew said.

The majority of Cubans who entered the United States by land arrived through the U.S. Border Patrol’s Laredo Sector in Texas, which borders Mexico.

In fiscal 2015, two-thirds (28,371) of all Cubans

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