The U.S. Coast Guard said it returned 22 Cuban migrants to the island Tuesday
 after dropping off another 28 on Friday for a total of 50 in four days.

 Petty Officer Jeff Murphy said the five groups repatriated Tuesday were picked up
 at sea by Coast Guard units operating around Alligator Reef and Islamorada
 between July 12 and Saturday.

 Five of the six who were picked up in the first group were taken to the U.S. Naval
 Base in Guantanamo, Cuba, ``for further investigation,'' Murphy said.

 Two groups were picked up Thursday. Two women in a group of six intercepted 28
 miles south of Alligator Reef were brought to a local hospital, Murphy said. ``Their
 husbands were later transferred to the U.S. Border Patrol ashore for humanitarian
 reasons.'' Another 10 rafters were caught 15 miles west of the reef, he added.

 On Friday, another group in a 12-foot boat was picked up four miles south of
 Islamorada.

 Eight more migrants were interdicted 18 miles south of the reef Saturday. All but
 one male -- who complained of stomach pains and was brought to a local hospital
 and turned over to the Immigration and Naturalization Service -- were sent back,
 Murphy said.

 The Coast Guard has stopped at least 202 Cubans attempting to illegally enter
 the United States in July and 1,039 so far in 1999, Murphy said. The U.S. Border
 Patrol says approximately 1,400 others have made it to shore and have been able
 to stay.