Thread: Fourteen Cubans make it to shore in Keys after Coast Guard c

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/ne ... 813058.htm

Posted on Tue, Feb. 07, 2006

Fourteen Cubans make it to shore in Keys after Coast Guard chase

BY LUISA YANEZ
lyanez@MiamiHerald.com

An alleged smuggler's ''go-fast'' boat trying to out-run the U.S. Coast Guard Tuesday slammed into a sandbar in the Florida Keys.

The boat carried 14 Cuban migrants -- 10 men, three women and one 17-year-old female -- according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokeswoman Jennifer Connors. The boat apparently made it to land just east of Marathon at Grassy Key, the Coast Guard said. The group was taken into custody by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents.

Two men were also taken into custody separately -- one a Cuban national and the other, a U.S. citizen from Georgia, Connors said.

The drama played out at around 9 a.m. Tuesday off the Florida Keys as one or more Coast Guard vessels pursued the speed boat crossing the Florida Straits.

''The boat rammed and beached itself on a sand bar and local authorities were called in to help,'' said Coast Guard Petty Officer James Judge.

The Monroe County Sheriffs Office said it was alerted and asked for help.

''We got a call from the Coast Guard that they were trying to intercept a boat and to go to Grassy Key,'' said Becky Herron, spokeswoman for the Monroe sheriff. The Cubans were taken for processing.

Under U.S. immigration rules, known as the wet-foot, dry-foot policy, Cubans who make it to land are generally allowed to remain in the United States.

"Wet foot, dry foot" policies should be "no foot"!