Cuban migrant interdictions exceed 1,000 so far this year

Cuban migrant interdictions exceed 1,000 so far this year

The number of Cuban migrant interdictions so far this year by the U.S.
Coast Guard has exceeded 1,000.

Figures posted by the U.S. Coast Guard on its Internet website --

http://www.d7publicaffairs.com/-- show that as of Tuesday at least 1,093
Cuban migrants had been picked up by the Coast Guard since Jan. 1.

While the figure does not set a record, it illustrates the ongoing
departures from Cuba of undocumented migrants hoping to reach U.S. soil.
About 1,005 Cuban migrants were picked up by the Coast Guard during the
first five months of 2007.

Since Fidel Castro took ill in July 2006, the number of Cuban
migrants leaving the island has steadily increased – though no mass
exodus has occurred.

If another 1,000 Cubans are interdicted in the Florida Straits in
the next six months, the total for the year will be somewhat similar to
the total number of interdictions in 2006 when 2,293 Cuban migrants were
stopped at sea.

The 3,197 Cuban migrants stopped at sea last year was the highest
number of interdictions in a single year since the 1994 rafter exodus
when at least 37,191 migrants were spotted in the Florida Straits.

Under the wet-foot/dry-foot policy, undocumented Cuban migrants
stopped at sea are generally returned to the island while those who make
it ashore are allowed to stay.

-- Alfonso Chardy

June 10, 2008 in Emmigration

http://miamiherald.typepad.com/cuban_colada/2008/06/cuban-migrant-i.html