Cuban Migrants Trapped on Coast Guard Ship as State Department Works to Repatriate

The Associated Press reported on Friday dozens of Cubans are at the moment stranded aboard the US Coast Guard Cutter Vigilant within the Florida Straits awaiting permission from the Cuban authorities to return residence.

The U.S. Coast Guard couldn’t verify this report, nonetheless a State Department official tells gCaptain in an emailed assertion, 38 Cuban migrants had been intercepted by the U.S. Coast Guard whereas aboard a crowded catamaran within the neighborhood of the Virgin Islands.

“We strongly discourage such dangerous voyages and encourage Cuban nationals wishing to immigrate to the United States to pursue existing safe and legal migration options,” mentioned the State Department official.

“The related companies of the U.S. authorities are working collectively to resolve the case of those migrants.

We are in discussions with Cuba, and different international locations by which the migrants might have transited, about this case and all applicable steps we are able to take to stop folks from enterprise the harmful sea journey in precarious crafts.”