The Coast Guard has reported an uptick in Cubans trying to enter the United States through the Florida Straits this month, with the surge apparently triggered by false rumors the Obama administration was about to loosen its immigration policy.
Through 6 a.m. Monday, 315 vessels from Cuba had tried entering the U.S., compared with 240 attempts during all of last January, Coast Guard records show. In January 2013, there were only 88 attempts.
Those figures include actual landings, so called “interdictions” — when the Coast Guard makes contact with a foreign vessel — and “disruptions” — when a boat turns back on its own.
An itemized list of how many of this month’s 315 “migrant flows” were in each category wasn’t available.
The surge has significantly waned since mid-January, when the administration’s rumored relaxation of its “wet foot, dry foot” policy — which often shields Cubans from deportation if they reach U.S. shores — was supposed to kick in.
“We’re certainly not where we were three weeks ago with the amount of activity out there,” said Lt. Cmdr. Gabe Somma, a spokesman for the Coast Guard’s Seventh District in Miami.
“We do see these spikes in activity any time there is a perception of a policy change. Whether or not there is policy change, if the migrants believe there is a policy change, they’ll take to the sea.”
The Coast Guard said it spread the word among Cubans sent back home that the immigration rumor was false.
Somma said the slowdown also may in part be due to recent rough and cold weather.
He added he wasn’t sure where or how the rumor began, though there has been speculation that Cuba’s ruling Castro brothers were the instigators.
Since Oct. 1, when the Coast Guard’s fiscal year began, 1,378 Cuban boats have tried to enter the U.S., compared with 3,677 during the entire previous fiscal year.
Many of the vessels trying to reach Florida are boats in name only, as they are hastily assembled and unsafe.
“There’s obviously no communications equipment, no navigation equipment, no life-saving equipment” on board, Somma said. “They’re not seaworthy. It doesn’t take much for them to capsize.”
