PHOTOS AVAILABLE: Coast Guard repatriates 2 migrants to Cuba

News Release

U.S. Coast Guard 7th District Southeast Contact: 7th District Public Affairs Office: 305-415-6683 After Hours: 786-367-7649 7th District online newsroom

PHOTOS AVAILABLE: Coast Guard repatriates 2 migrants to Cuba

  

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KEY WEST, Fla. — Coast Guard Cutter Isaac Mayo's crew repatriated two Cuban migrants to Cuba, Monday.

The Coast Guard Cutter Charles Sexton embarked two Cuban migrants after they were rescued by a good Samaritan motor tanker STI Brixton crew who saw them waving their arms from a raft Thursday approximately 70 miles southwest of Marathon.

Since Oct. 1, 2020, Coast Guard crews have interdicted 195 Cubans compared to:

• 5,396 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2016
  
• 1,468 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2017 
  
• 259 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2018
  
• 313 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2019
  
• 49 Cuban migrants in Fiscal Year 2020
  
  

"We're always grateful to the boating public for helping us save lives," said Lt. j.g. James Rimmele, executive officer of Cutter Charles Sexton. "Trying to enter the country in this manner isn't just illegal, it's dangerous. Putting yourself out into the dynamic environment of the sea unprepared is never worth the risk."

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and basic medical attention. Throughout the interdiction, Coast Guard crew members were equipped with personal protective equipment to minimize potential exposure to any possible case of COVID-19. There were no migrants in these cases reported to have any COVID-19 related symptoms.

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-USCG-