US Coast Guard crews repatriate over 900 Caribbean migrants
According to the United States Coast Guard, from January 6 to January 13, crews on patrol in the Florida Straits, as well as the Caribbean Sea’s Windward and Mona Passes, stopped hundreds of illegal Caribbean migrants from sailing into the United States.
The US Coast Guard said in a statement on Saturday that sailors from Coast Guard cutters returned 824 Cubans to Matanzas and Cabanas, Cuba, and 83 Haitians to Cap Haitien, Haiti, over the course of the previous week.
According to the US Coast Guard, on the request of the Bahamian government, a crew from the US Coast Guard rescued 17 Cuban migrants who were stranded on Elbow Cay in the Bahamas and handed them over to the Royal Bahamian Defense Force for evacuation.
13 illegal operations were stopped by Coast Guard cutter and station crews, preventing 239 migrants from reaching US territory.
The US Coast Guard said in a statement that migrants who were apprehended at sea were transported to Coast Guard cutters where they received humanitarian help, including food, water, shelter, and any necessary basic medical care. “Migrants who enter the United States illegally are sent back to their country of origin or last known residence.”
Rear Admiral Brendan McPherson, commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District and director of Homeland Security Task Force-Southeast, said, “We warn anyone considering trying the always risky and frequently fatal illegal maritime migration routes to not endanger their lives by taking to the sea.”
He continued, “Anyone attempting to enter the United States illegally by water will be rescued and repatriated by our HSTF-SE crews. “Your expulsion and ineligibility for lawful immigration choices will come from Southeast maritime boundary incursions.”
New, lawful entry points to the US have recently been announced by the US White House and Department of Homeland Security.
The US Coast Guard stated: “Cubans and Haitians who enter by water will be subject to removal procedures and, as a result, will not be eligible for the parole process.”
