The Miami Herald
Aug. 09, 2002

Coast Guard repatriates four Cuban migrants

  By The Associated Press

  MIAMI - The U.S. Coast Guard repatriated four Cuban migrants Friday after picking them up in a rowboat 50 miles southeast of Key West.

  Their 10-foot rowboat was intercepted by a Coast Guard cutter Wednesday. The men were transferred to another cutter and interviewed by Immigration and
  Naturalization Service agents, who decided to return them to Cuba. The men were taken to Bahia de Cabanas, Cuba, on Friday.

  The Coast Guard picked up six Cuban migrants on a raft Wednesday in a separate incident. They were repatriated the same day.

  Cubans who set foot on U.S. soil are often given permanent residence but those intercepted at sea can be repatriated if they can't prove a claim for asylum.