MIAMI — The crew aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Bernard C. Webber repatriated 21 Cuban migrants to Bahia de Cabañas, Cuba, Friday.
The migrants were interdicted at sea during two separate incidents on Monday and Wednesday.
Coast Guard Sector Key West, Fla., received a report from a good Samaritan of 10 Cuban migrants aboard a raft south of Key West, Monday. Sector Key West diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Pea Island, who subsequently embarked the migrants.
The migrants were later transferred to the cutter Webber for repatriation.
On Wednesday, a Customs and Border Protection aircraft located two suspected vessels south of Islamorada, Fla.
Watchstanders at Sector Key West launched a boat crew from Station Islamorada to interdict the two vessels. The boat crew arrived on scene and safely embarked 11 Cuban migrants and one Ecuadorian migrant. All 12 migrants were transferred to the cutter Webber. One Ecuadorian migrant was transferred ashore for further processing.
"We will continue to patrol vigilantly throughout the Florida Straits and Caribbean Sea to rescue and repatriate migrants who take to the sea and enforce federal laws and regulations prohibiting any person from encouraging illegal entry, or bringing, or attempting to bring, undocumented migrants into the U.S.," added Cronin.
Once aboard a Coast Guard cutter, all migrants receive food, water, shelter and basic medical attention.
The Pea Island and other Island-class patrol boats are being replaced by 58 new, Sentinel-class fast response cutters. The FRC is capable of speeds in excess of 28 knots and operating in seas up to 18-feet. The speed and stability of the FRC delivers tremendous lifesaving, law enforcement and homeland security capabilities in the same package.
The cutter Pea Island is a 110-foot patrol boat, homeported in Key West, Fla.
The cutter Bernard C. Webber is a 154-foot Sentinel Class Fast Response Cutter homeported in Miami.
"There have been far too many cases where people have died while making these unsafe voyages," said Cmdr. Timothy Cronin, Seventh Coast Guard District Assistant Branch Chief for Enforcement. "There is a controlled, safe, and legal means of migration to the U.S. and failing to follow this process is illegal and needlessly endangers the lives of migrants and those sworn to protect our borders."
For more information on how to legally immigrate to the U.S., please call U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) at 1-800-375-5283 or visit the USCIS website at www.uscis.gov.