Cuban migrants rescued off Keys on a raft, Coast Guard says. That’s not where they stayed

Two Cuban migrants who were rescued off the Florida Keys last week were taken back to Cuba on Monday by the U.S. Coast Guard.

The two men were rescued Thursday by the motor tanker STI Brixton’s crew, who saw them waving their arms on a raft about 70 miles southwest of Marathon, the Coast Guard reported.

“We’re always grateful to the boating public for helping us save lives,” said Lt. j.g. James Rimmele, executive officer of the Coast Guard 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.”

Coast Guard Cutter Isaac Mayo’s crew took the two Cuban migrants to Cuba on Monday.

U.S. officials say there has been an uptick in the number of people from Cuba making the risky journey across the Florida Straits.

The federal government tracks migration attempts and landings by the fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. This year, Coast Guard crews have so far stopped 195 Cubans at sea compared with 49 in all of fiscal year 2020..

The number in fiscal year 2019 was 313.

This story was originally published April 26, 2021 at 6:13 PM.

Gwen Filosa

Miami Herald

Gwen Filosa covers Key West and the Lower Florida Keys for FLKeysNews.com and the Miami Herald and lives in Key West. She was part of the staff at the New Orleans Times-Picayune that in 2005 won two Pulitzer Prizes for coverage of Hurricane Katrina. She graduated from Indiana University.