Migrants land on Brac after 5 days at sea

| 17/12/2019 | 38 Comments
Cayman News Service
Cuban migrants reach Cayman Brac on 13 December 2019

(CNS): One woman and 30 men from Cuba landed on Cayman Brac last Friday morning, 13 December, officials from the Customs and Border Control Service have finally confirmed. While there have been social media postings about the migrants’ arrival, officials took four days to issue a public release about their detention. The 31 people were at sea for five days before they had to abandon their journey due to engine trouble and having run out of essential supplies.

The Cubans will be transferred from Cayman Brac to the CBC Detention Centre in Grand Cayman, though officials did not say when. However, the release said that CBC teams from both Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac are working to meet all their safety, health and welfare needs.

This is the first large group of Cubans to arrive in local waters and be detained this year. However, government has been dealing with a number of human rights issues relating to migrants who had been detained for long periods of time, including hunger strikes, allegations of sexual assault and ongoing legal challenges to the denial of asylum claims.


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Category: Local News

Comments (38)

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  1. Anonymous says:

    People tends to forget where caymanian use to vessel to back in the days just to speak on people that you have no idea how there lives are words y’all saying disgust me as humans y’all need do better !!! And think before speaking and study history and who use to help cayman back in the days !!

  2. Anonymous says:

    Waiting for the Auditor general report on housing Cubans. It would be eye popping, no doubt about it.

  3. Anonymous says:

    How 31 people fit THAT boat, let alone be at sea for 5 days? Mind boggling. They also run out of supplies. Where were they going if supplies lasted only 5 days?

    Transferring them to Grand Cayman is a bad idea. Why not keep them on Brac? Don’t need capital structures for that, tents would suffice. Fix their boat, provide supplies and wish them luck? It’s not like this happened for the first time, the process should be running like a well oiled machine already.

    Why create a long lasting headache if it could be nipped in the bud? Otherwise might start learning how to build artificial islands.

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  4. Anonymous says:

    Nobody minds decent, hard working migrants, preferably legal in small doses.
    It is the shit we can’t abide. The ones that flee their own countries and them impose that same culture on us.
    If you want to impose your culture, why migrate?

    In the words of the great patriot, King Leonidas, “This is Cayman!”

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  5. Anonymous says:

    Illegal immigrants have ruined the U.K. every Tom, Dick and Harry and his dog is eager to enter the U.K. because of their lacsa daisy attitude with these people. There’s thousands of them in France waiting to sneak onto the lorries that enter the U.K. why don’t they stay in a lovely place like France ask yourself. Because they get free housing, medical, education and financial help in the U.K. that’s why. We wouldn’t have the same treatment if we entered illegally into their countries. Do not listen to their lies of being killed if they return to their country of origin. I remember many years ago in the 80’s we had Tent City full of Cubans before the new detention centre was built. They came here in droves. I think this island would be better off having qualified ex pats that can be an asset to this island not people that will financially drain the system like the U.K.

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  6. Anonymous says:

    I wonder how many them have been here before? I remember visiting the detention centre a few years ago and getting all the normal BS from the migrants about how they’d be jailed or even killed if they were sent back to Cuba but a quick check of the records showed that at least 60% had definitely been through here before. This is economic migration, people trying to eventually get to the USA, and the sooner it’s stopped the better.

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  7. Anonymous says:

    How very Christian of you. What would you have done with a pregnant woman on a donkey?

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  8. Debbie does Dullards says:

    6:40. We heard that the CI Government repatriates ILLEGAL CUBAN MIGRANTS back to Cuba. Why is Cayman not asking Cuba to send a plane to pick them up if this is the rule?
    Why are we taking them on Cayman Airways? Are we not afraid of tubercolosis and other diseases? This is tough. Yes we are to be humane but we also as citizens should obey the Government.
    Let us pray for God to help us in our decisions when circumstances are put at our feet.
    Some have stated that more boats are expected. What is our and their responsibility to this issue of illegal immigrants.

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  9. Junior says:

    Christmas overtime monies

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  10. Anonymous says:

    Send them back were they came from!

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    • Anonymous says:

      Really! full.of Christmas spirit then …not!

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      • Anonymous says:

        2:12 Although it seems unfair and unfeeling Cayman doesn’t have the space or the infinite resources to open the flood gates to people fleeing Cuba or to economic migrants. We are a small island with finite resources and job availability. Those who truly count as refugees will stay but the rest should be sent back. If you take them all in more will come as a result. I dont like to see people suffer or live in extreme poverty but you cant just up and leave to another country illegally. There is a process and border control to think of. Every country deserves a right to say who they let into their country. Logistically speaking we cant take in all the unhappy people in Cuba. They have a population of 11.8 million and of course im not saying everyone is going to up and move but we dont have space for even a fraction of that population. Housing shortages and with many of our own workers working below minimum wage line it’s simply not practical. It’s sad but sometimes you have to bandage the bleeding heart and look at things logically.

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      • Anonymous says:

        You only say Christmas when it suits you.

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      • Anonymous says:

        What does that have to do with it.
        Would you like illegals living in your backyard? Thats basically what they are doing.

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  11. Anonymous says:

    Many people in Cayman say Donald Trump is called racist for his stance on border security and the way he deals with illegal immigrants. Yet here we are locking them in cages for god knows how long before sending them back home. Double standards much?

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    • Anonymous says:

      Actually it’s the opposite, unfortunately a lot of people here support Trump. Mostly the older Caymanians who don’t like the Jamaicans and Filipinos..

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    • Anonymous says:

      If Cayman Islands territory wise were the size of the USA, your comment would have had some validity. It is unrealistic to expect from the Cayman Islands anything but their boat repair and necessary supplies to continue their journey. Keeping them in Brac would have been a better idea. In Grand Cayman they learn fast how to stay and apply for asylum.

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