Cubans press on after passing Cayman Brac

(CNS): A boat carrying ten male Cuban migrants continued on its journey in the early hours of Wednesday morning after passing through waters around Cayman Brac. The Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control Service said the migrants chose not to disembark and made the decision to press on with their journey.

This is the first boat carrying Cuban migrants reported in Cayman waters since January. Following the reopening of borders both here and in Cuba last year, there was a surge of migrants passing through and landing in the Cayman Islands. But a change in policy that impacts the speed with which asylum claims are made appears to have had a deterrent effect.

More than 70 Cubans have been deported this year, and CBC Director Charles Clifford told CNS recently that while amendments to the law at the end of last year have cut the number of people arriving here from Cuba, given the economic challenges there for ordinary people, this was not the end of the movement of migrants.