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

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
ALFONSO CHARDY
achardy@elnuevoherald.com

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.

Source: Nearly two dozen Cuban migrants celebrate New Year with Florida
Keys landing | Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/community/florida-keys/article52661335.html