18 Cubans in their dinghy were captured by US Coast Guard officials near Florida and sent back to Communist nation

  • After being intercepted from the Florida Keys on Friday, 18 Cuban citizens were returned to Cuba by the U.S.
  • A group of 15-foot, rustic vessels tried to make it to Florida. However, a container ship saw them and tipped off the United States Coast Guard. 
  • Cubans fleeing the Communist-run island were allowed to remain in the United States on President Bill Clinton’s  ‘wet foot, dry foot’ policy in 1995
  • The policy was ended by President Barack Obama in January 2017.










Nearly twenty Cubans in desperate need were found on a dinghy near the Florida Keys. They were taken to Cuba by the United States Coast Guard and deported to the Communist-run country.

After being arrested last Friday, the 18 migrants were returned Tuesday to Duck Key. They had been located approximately 15 miles from Duck Key.

Sector Key West, Coast Guard alerted after container ship crews spotted the group of people crammed onto the vessel.

Migrants were lifted from the makeshift raft they had been on and taken to a Coast Guard cutter. They were then medically evaluated, fed, and prepared for expulsion to the devastated Caribbean island.

According to Lt. Robert Copeland of Coast Guard Seventh District, enforcement officer, ‘Coast Guard teams maintain a presence air- and sea-based assets around the Caribbean Sea.’ “Our crews prevent others from being killed in such dangerous situations.”

The 18 migrants who attempted to make to the shores of Florida on a makeshift raft last Friday were returned to Cuba on Tuesday, the United States Coast Guard announced on Tuesday

According to Tuesday’s announcement by the United States Coast Guard, 18 migrants tried to reach Florida using a makeshift boat.

The US deported 838 Cubans who were stopped at sea in the last fiscal year, which ran from October 1, 2020 to September 30, 201 – the highest total since nearly 1,500 were sent back in 2017.  

Coast Guard data from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security shows that 462 Cuban migrants were stopped by Coast Guard officers in fiscal 2012. 

The increase in Cubans fleeing communist-run Cuba over the past two years was largely due to the shortage of basic goods and restrictions on civil liberties. Residents have also protested in a way that is unprecedented since Fidel Castro’s time. 

One of the two wooden boats that were used to ferry 37 Cuban migrants to the Florida Keys over the weekend

One of two wooden boats used in ferrying 37 Cuban migrants to Florida Keys during the weekend

U.S. Border Patrol detained 37 Cuban migrants that arrived in Florida Keys after making cross-Atlantic voyages aboard two wooden boats. 

When their boat broke apart in the Middle Keys, three migrants were saved. 

After sailing over the Straits of Florida for 90 miles, Border Agents also picked up 13 Cuban migrants, one of whom was a woman. They arrived in Key West, Florida on August 31.

Officers were informed that the group had spent 10 days at sea, and that three of them died during the trip.

Seventeen migrants from Cuba were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard on March 18 about 54 miles south of Key West, Florida. Under an immigration policy put into place by President Barrack Obama in January 2017, Cubans caught in the sea by U.S. authorities are returned to Cuba or the country from where they originally departed from

Seventeen migrants from Cuba were intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard on March 18 about 54 miles south of Key West, Florida. Under an immigration policy put into place by President Barrack Obama in January 2017, Cubans caught in the sea by U.S. authorities are returned to Cuba or the country from where they originally departed from

Five Cuban migrants sit aboard a makeshift vessel that was found traversing through the Atlantic about 15 miles off the coast of Islamorada, Florida, on July 24

Five Cuban migrants sit aboard a makeshift vessel that was found traversing through the Atlantic about 15 miles off the coast of Islamorada, Florida, on July 24

Cubans who fled the socialist regime were allowed to stay in America under the 1995 President Bill Clinton policy, which modified the 1966 Cuban Adjustment Act. This law allowed them to be citizens within a year.

On January 12, 2017, President Obama signed an executive order that ended the law that allowed Cubans to obtain permanent residence in the United States.

U.S. authorities capture Cubans in the ocean and return them to Cuba, or the country where they were originally taken under U.S. policy.

President Joe Biden’s head of Homeland Security, Alejandro Mayorkas,  who was born in Havana, warned Cubans in the past about the dangers behind reaching U.S. shores on vessels.

Mayorkas clarified that if you travel to the ocean, you won’t be allowed to come to America. No migrant will be allowed to enter the United States if they are intercepted by sea. It is too risky.

Advertisement