Nine Cuban migrants found at sea by the U.S. Coast Guard were returned to their homeland, officials said Friday.

  Four men were discovered floating on a small rubber raft 10 miles east of Homestead in south Miami-Dade County on Thursday, the Coast Guard said.

  They were picked up by a Coast Guard cutter and interviewed by Immigration and Naturalization Service agents, who determined that they should be
  repatriated to Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba.

  Another group of eight men was found in a 12-foot boat off Islamorada in the Florida Keys Wednesday. Five men tried to swim to shore, but only three
  were able to make it.

  The three who reached shore were taken into custody by the Border Patrol. The other five were interviewed by INS agents and returned to Cuba.

  Cuban migrants who reach U.S. soil are generally allowed to stay, but those intercepted at sea are returned.