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CUBA
NEWS
Yahoo!
US repatriates 20 Cuban migrants intercepted
off Florida
MIAMI, United States, 15 (AFP) - Twenty Cuban
migrants seeking asylum in the United States were
repatriated to Cuba after they were intercepted
in the Straits of Florida, the US Coast Guard
said.
The Coast Guard said the asylum seekers had been
trying to reach Florida, on the US southeast coast,
when they were plucked from the ocean in three
separate groups.
They had been intercepted in recent days close
to the Florida Keys, a strip of small islands,
some 150 kilometers (93 miles) from the Cuban
coast.
Since October 2002, the Coast Guard has intercepted
over 1,400 Cuban boat people in the Straits of
Florida which separates Cuba from the United States.
The United States repatriates Cuban immigrants
intercepted at sea. However, it usually grants
residency to Cubans who manage to land on US soil.
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