Nearly two dozen Cuban migrants celebrate New Year with Florida Keys landing

JANUARY 1, 2016 5:27 PM

Nearly two dozen Cuban migrants celebrate New Year with Florida Keys landing

They came ashore just east of Key Largo, first known rafters to reach the U.S. this year

A surge is underway, apparently, out fear that the U.S. will end the Cuban Adjustment Act

A passerby in the Florida Keys took a photo of some of the men, posing in some foliage

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nati...E_640/Migrant2

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Twenty-two Cuban migrants landed in the Florida Keys on Friday, the first known island rafters to reach the United States in the new year.

The landing, first reported by WPLG-ABC 10, raised to more than 100 the number of Cuban migrants who reached South Florida in the last two weeks.

Rafters who have been interviewed recently in Miami have told el Nuevo Herald that an increasing number of Cuban migrants are leaving the island because they fear that the Cuban Adjustment Act is going to be abolished.

Under the wet-foot/dry-foot policy, a result of the Cuban Adjustment Act, Cuban migrants who arrive on U.S. soil are allowed to stay while those intercepted at sea are generally returned home.

Speculation has been growing about the possible end of the Cuban Adjustment Act since President Barack Obama in December 2014 ordered the restoration of U.S. relations with Cuba.

The Border Patrol confirmed Friday’s Cuban migrant arrival in the Florida Keys, but gave no other details.

However, figures from Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show an increase in the number of Cuban migrants without visas showing up along the U.S.-Mexican border and at international airports.

Almost 41,000 Cuban migrants arrived at the border, South Florida beaches and international airport between Oct. 1, 2014 and Sept. 30, 2015. It was the largest number of Cuban migrants arriving in the United States in one year over the last decade.

In its report, Local 10 News said CBP officers took the 22 Cuban migrants into custody after they came ashore at about 10 a.m., three miles south of Rodriguez Key, just east of Key Largo.

The TV report quoted a witness as saying she spotted seven of the men climbing through the bushes, then gave them water and Gatorade. She added that the men told her they had spent three days without food or water on their small boat.

The Border Patrol said by email Friday that the men were being held at their Marathon station pending their release.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nati...e52661335.html

Oh God. A bunch of shirtless Cuban youth hiding in a tree with nothing to their name but a bottle of water.

SEND. THEM. BACK,

Why isn't the U.S. Coast Guard doing it's job, has Obama called them off too?

Apparently so. And the US Navy as well. They could have been a submarine or a ship. I don't think anything we have going is working like it's suppose to any more. And how do we know they're Cuban? Because they say so? We don't know who any of these people are or what the hell they're up to.

Coast Guard Cutter Isaac Mayo Repatriates 58 Cuban Migrants

http://images.military.com/media/new...x800-ts600.jpgTwelve Cuban migrants drift aboard two life rafts provided by a Coast Guard aircraft that located the migrants aboard a partially submerged migrant vessel 100 miles southwest of Key West, Florida, Dec. 17, 2015. (U.S. Coast Guard photo)

U.S. Coast Guard

MIAMI — Crewmembers aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Isaac Mayo repatriated 58 Cuban migrants to Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba, Tuesday.

This repatriation is a result of five separate migrant interdictions at sea in the south Florida Straits. These events were Cubans trying to illegally enter the United States on unseaworthy vessels commonly called "rustics" or "chugs." In these instances the Coast Guard not only helped secure the U.S. border, but they also prevented these perilous ocean voyages from ending in tragedy.

One event highlights just how dangerous these migration attempts have become. On Dec. 17 a Coast Guard aircraft located an unseaworthy migrant vessel that was partially submerged with 12 people on board. The Coast Guard deployed two life rafts from the aircraft for the migrants to embark while their home-made vessel sunk nearly 100 miles southwest of Key West, Fl. The Coast Guard Cutter Isaac Mayo arrived on scene and rescued the 12 distressed migrants from the life rafts.

On the same day and within hours of the rescue of the 12 migrants from the life rafts, the Isaac Mayo interdicted three other vessels carrying 37 migrants. These vessels were also considered unseaworthy and the illegal voyages could have resulted in more tragic endings.

"Homemade vessels with no navigation or lifesaving equipment trying to cross these dangerous waters is a recipe for disaster. On this day, it is safe to say the Coast Guard and the Isaac Mayo crew saved 58 lives," said Cmdr. Tim Cronin, Coast Guard 7th District deputy chief of law enforcement.

"There is a legal and safe way to enter the United States...this is not it. The Coast Guard's priority in the Florida Straits is to protect people from the sea, but we also work hand in hand with our Customs and Border Protection to secure our borders from illegal entry."

Coast Guard Cutter Isaac Mayo is a 154-foot fast response cutter homeported in Key West.

Since Oct. 1, the Coast Guard 7th District estimates that 1,307 Cubans have attempted to illegally migrate via the sea. These numbers represent the total amount of at-sea interdictions, landings and disruptions in the Florida Straits, the Caribbean and Atlantic.

http://www.military.com/daily-news/2...-migrants.html