U.S. policy will permit 46 Cuban migrants to stay
Posted on Sun, Mar. 30, 2008
BY JOSE PAGLIERY
jpagliery@MiamiHerald.com
Nearly 50 undocumented Cuban migrants who landed ashore at Hollywood
shortly after midnight Saturday will be allowed to stay in the United
States under the existing ''wet-foot, dry-foot'' policy, authorities said.
Smugglers had brought the 46 migrants from Sagua la Grande, Cuba, near
the island's northern coast, according to U.S. Border Patrol Agent
Lazaro Guzman.
Once a small fishing town, Sagua la Grande has become a popular jump-off
point for Cubans wanting to leave the country.
Along the way, this latest group of migrants stopped in the Bahamas for
a couple of days, where they refueled and remained until the weather
calmed down, Guzman said.
Their arrival so far north along the Atlantic Coast surprised Border
Patrol agents. ''They've never really landed that far north,'' Guzman
said, noting that smugglers adjust their routes regularly to avoid
capture by law enforcement.
All of the migrants were taken into custody and will be released to the
Miami-Dade Health Clinic after being processed and interviewed at the
agency's Pembroke Pines station.
The migrants will be allowed to stay in the United States under the
U.S.-Cuba migration policy known as wet-foot, dry-foot.
The policy permits Cuban migrants who make it to U.S. soil to remain
here, while those intercepted at sea are usually repatriated.
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