Some good news.
Maybe this means that the dreadful "dry-foot wet-foot" is coming to an end.
MIAMI (Reuters) - Twenty-eight Cuban migrants detained on a speedboat after the U.S. Coast Guard fired at its engines this month were allowed onto U.S. soil on Thursday, making it unlikely they would be deported to Cuba.
The U.S. federal prosecutor in Miami said the Cubans were taken to shore because the authorities decided that was the best way they could contribute to the prosecution of three men accused of trying to smuggle them into the United States.
The decision reflected the "unique circumstances" of the case, in which the 28 migrants were classed as "material witnesses," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement.
A Cuban woman died from head injuries after the speedboat tried to evade two U.S. Coast Guard vessels in rough seas near Key West, Florida, on July 10. U.S. officials said she was thrown violently around during the bumpy ride.
The high-speed chase ended when a Coast Guard marksman disabled one of the speedboat's three engines. A pregnant woman on board was taken to land but the 28 other would-be immigrants had been held on a Coast Guard vessel for 10 days while authorities decided their fate.
Under the U.S. "wet-foot, dry-foot" immigration policy applied only to Cubans, citizens of the communist-ruled island who make it to shore in the United States are virtually always allowed to remain and can apply for residency a year later. Cuban migrants captured at sea are usually returned to Cuba.
Cuban advocacy groups in Miami, the heartland of exile opposition to Cuban President Fidel Castro and a powerful source of political support for the Republican party, had urged the authorities to allow all of the migrants to land.
"No one can ever imagine how much joy a decision like this can cause in these divided families," activist Ramon Saul Sanchez said. "Today the United States government has done the remarkable deed of uniting what Castro divided."
MIAMI (Reuters) - Twenty-eight Cuban migrants detained on a speedboat after the U.S. Coast Guard fired at its engines this month were allowed onto U.S. soil on Thursday, making it unlikely they would be deported to Cuba.
The U.S. federal prosecutor in Miami said the Cubans were taken to shore because the authorities decided that was the best way they could contribute to the prosecution of three men accused of trying to smuggle them into the United States.
The decision reflected the "unique circumstances" of the case, in which the 28 migrants were classed as "material witnesses," the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida said in a statement.
A Cuban woman died from head injuries after the speedboat tried to evade two U.S. Coast Guard vessels in rough seas near Key West, Florida, on July 10. U.S. officials said she was thrown violently around during the bumpy ride.
The high-speed chase ended when a Coast Guard marksman disabled one of the speedboat's three engines. A pregnant woman on board was taken to land but the 28 other would-be immigrants had been held on a Coast Guard vessel for 10 days while authorities decided their fate.
Under the U.S. "wet-foot, dry-foot" immigration policy applied only to Cubans, citizens of the communist-ruled island who make it to shore in the United States are virtually always allowed to remain and can apply for residency a year later. Cuban migrants captured at sea are usually returned to Cuba.
Cuban advocacy groups in Miami, the heartland of exile opposition to Cuban President Fidel Castro and a powerful source of political support for the Republican party, had urged the authorities to allow all of the migrants to land.
"No one can ever imagine how much joy a decision like this can cause in these divided families," activist Ramon Saul Sanchez said. "Today the United States government has done the remarkable deed of uniting what Castro divided."
2 Comments:
So 1 Cuban out of 28 has to die, to allow the rest to stay?
Just what I was thinking Orlando, and how many have to go to prison? I can't help but wonder if some sort of deal was made for them to testify against the accused smugglers in exchange for freedom. At the rate Cubans are fleeing we'll know soon enough.
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