Cops pepper spray Cuban in wake of brawl
Disturbance among Cuban migrants at the Bodden Town Civic Centre (Photo courtesy Cayman 27)
(CNS): A Cuban migrant who was being housed at the Bodden Town Civic Centre was taken to hospital yesterday after he was peppered sprayed by police. The man was involved in a brawl with another detainee over stolen shoes but it seemed the trouble escalated when more of the refugees got involved in the fight. The security guards who are manning the centre, which is housing dozens of Cubans as the immigration department’s secure centre at Fairbanks is full, called the police around 1pm Tuesday because they were unable to control the disturbance.
When police arrived, one of the men involved in the fight was armed with a piece of metal. He was warned to desist but was intent on assaulting the other male detainee who had accused him of theft. Responding to the threat posed by the migrant, one of the officers deployed pepper spray at the scene.
Police said he was given medical attention and taken to another location, which is understood to be the main centre in George Town.
One hundred and six Cuban migrants remain in immigration custody across Grand Cayman. Most are housed at the Immigration Detention Centre at Fairbanks, but this is well over capacity.
The stream of migrants leaving Cuba on unsafe vessels continues but many are finding themselves stranded in local waters. The surge is believed to be the result of fears in Cuba that the emerging friendship between their government and America will see the US abandon its ‘wet foot-dry foot’ policy, which allows Cubans who make it onto US dry land to stay.
The surge has seen a significant increase in spending by the Cayman government on detaining the migrants ahead of deportation to Cuba. During his budget address Monday, Finance Minister Marco Archer said the illegal migrants landing in the Cayman Islands, which had been far more than expected, had cost over $2 million.
Category: Crime, Immigration, Police
I can think of easier ways to make a burrito!
call the prison . it seems they are the only ones can control these people.
Why would not they be allowed to repair their boats and continue their journeys? Why to keep them in this country?
Because that would encourage more people to set of in dangerous boats from Cuba and die.
and this affects us…..how?
Since these Cubans are sitting around doing nothing why don’t we have them clean up the mess they’ve left on our beaches. Let them take their rafts apart and load them into a dumpster.
Let the refugees live and work in Cayman just like every single Caymanian citizen was allowed to when their ancestors first arrived.
Buh! that is not the solution, you pay Cayman Airways a one time fee which would be less than the $2 million that we spending to house them n send them back to Cuba. it is that simple any other Cubans caught drifting call Authorities in Cuba n have them come scoop them up or fine them for illegal entry. stop treating them like kids we are giving them what they want so of course they going keep coming.
01/06/2016 at 2:15 pm
Are you pulling my leg?
Why just Cuban then? Allow anyone to stay here if they want to. Start with all those PR seekers who are waiting for years and had already paid lots of $$$,$$$. At least they are educated, skilled,civil, have police clearances and lots of money.
Keeping so many of them here is a disaster waiting to happen, but sending them back would hurt the profit of certain peoples security firms. What a disgrace!
i agree with you, it is not worth keeping them here and being nuisances, look at what the police got to deal with, big hard ass men fighting over shoes, really? #GrowSomeBallsCayman #DoTheRightThing.
Now that this is the beginning of hurricane season, I am curious what will happen when our Caymanian people should have to occupy the Civic Centres in the districts? Send those people on their way. It is less costly to give them fuel and supplies for them to go on their merry way.
The money wasted on maintaining them here prior to repatriation should be spent on or very own.
This is the perfect example for the Government, let us see how they respond.