MIAMI.- US Border Patrol (CBP) agents arrested at least 187 Cuban migrants in the Florida Keys this weekend, adding several who arrived this Sunday, according to authorities.
The nearly two hundred migrants landed in this country after 10 different landings, Walter N. Slosar, in charge of CBP in the Miami sector, reported via Twitter today.
The Miami Herald newspaper, for its part, reported that the largest landing was that of a group of 51 Cubans who arrived at the buoy in the south of the state in Key West this morning, citing Adam Hoffner, the department head, as a source US Customs and Border Protection Miami.
Slosar posted on Twitter some photos of precarious boats in which the Cubans detailed arriving at the 10 landings on US shores.
At the moment it is not known if children were traveling on these boats, as is often the case on some occasions, and the health status of the migrants has not been reported.
The arrest of these 187 Cubans comes three days after border officials arrested another 19 Cubans after reaching Marathon Key, one of the tourist Keys islands in South Florida.
In a statement this Friday, the US Coast Guard reported the repatriation of 36 Cubans last Tuesday after several interdictions on the Florida coast.
It’s “the year that our forces have significantly increased our patrols to find people in danger and rescue migrants from dangerous and extremely overloaded vessels,” said Capt. Robert Kinsey of the US Coast Guard’s 7th District.
According to the latest federal figures, Coast Guard crews have intercepted 3,963 Cubans since October 1, 2021, the date the current fiscal year began, compared to 838 intercepted in the previous fiscal year.