CUBA
14 Cuban migrants are sent back to Cuba
BY MIKE CLARY
Sun Sentinel
Fourteen Cuban migrants, including nine who were apprehended at sea
after the U.S. Coast Guard fired at a suspected smuggler's boat, were
returned to Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba, on Sunday.
The suspected smuggler, taken into custody Thursday about 70 miles south
of the Dry Tortugas, was being held by Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officials in Key West.
The eight passengers on his vessel, along with six others picked up
Tuesday about 47 miles southeast of Key West, were taken back to Cuba
aboard the cutter Cormorant, Coast Guard officials said.
In the Thursday incident, Coast Guard officials said the suspected
smuggler and his passengers were picked up only after the vessel was
intercepted by a patrol boat from Key West and ``the crew used warning
shots and disabling fire to bring the vessel to a halt.''
''The Coast Guard continues to aggressively enforce U.S. policy with
regard to illegal migration,'' Lt. Eric Pare, a Seventh Coast Guard
District command duty officer, said in a statement. ``Attempting to
smuggle undocumented migrants by sea is not only illegal but also
dangerous.''
Under the so-called ''wet-foot, dry-foot'' immigration policy, Cubans
picked up at sea are sent back to the island. Cubans who set foot on
land anywhere in the United States are generally allowed to remain.
Once aboard Coast Guard cutters, migrants are provided with food, water,
shelter and medical attention.
14 Cuban migrants are sent back to Cuba - South Florida -
MiamiHerald.com (15 June 2009)
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/southflorida/story/1097409.html
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