US Coast Guard interdicts 10 Cuban migrants, 2 suspected smugglers near Villa Clara Province

(MENAFN- Caribbean News Now) KEY WEST, Florida \u2014 The Coast Guard interdicted 10 Cuban migrants and two suspected smugglers Monday 12 miles off Villa Clara Province, Cuba.\n

Coast Guard 7th District watchstanders received notification of an illegal departure of a 30-foot go-fast vessel with 12 people aboard in the vicinity of Villa Clara Province.\n

A Coast Guard Air Station Miami HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircraft crew located the vessel and vectored the Coast Guard Cutter Raymond Evans (WPC-1110) crew to the location where they embarked ten males and two females. The Coast Guard cutter Evans crew repatriated the ten Cuban migrants back to their home of origin. The two suspected smugglers were transferred into Homeland Security Investigations custody.\n id=\"mNCC\" language=\"javascript\">medianet_width='468';medianet_height= '60';medianet_crid='637422217'; id=\"mNSC\" src=\"http:\/\/contextual.media.net\/nmedianet.js?cid=8CUVV6306\" language=\"javascript\"> \n\n

"The Coast Guard maintains a focused and coordinated effort with multiple agency assets to interdict any attempt to unlawfully immigrate by sea to the United States," said Rear Adm Peter J Brown, commander of Coast Guard 7th District. \u201cThose who are interdicted at sea attempting to illegally immigrate will be repatriated to their country in accordance with existing US immigration policy. Migrant interdiction operations save lives and we need the support of the local communities, families and information outlets in the media to help reiterate the dangers of taking these unsafe voyages. The sea conditions can change in an instant and can be unforgiving to the ill-equipped craft that are often used for these voyages.\u201d\n

Brown is the commander of the Coast Guard\u2019s 7th District based in Miami, Florida which oversees all Coast Guard operations in South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, as well as Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.\n

Brown is also the director of Homeland Security Task Force Southeast, a standing multi-agency team that unifies the whole of government effort to monitor, identify, mitigate and respond to large-scale migration events.\n

Approximately 291 Cuban migrants have attempted to illegally enter the US via the maritime environment in the fiscal year 2019 compared to 384 Cuban migrants in the fiscal year 2018. These numbers represent the total number of at-sea interdictions, landings and disruptions in the Florida Straits, the Caribbean and Atlantic.\n

Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and necessary medical attention.

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