Tag: Cuban migrants
Border patrol eying migrant boat
(CNS): Officers from Customs and Border Control (CBC) in Cayman Brac are keeping their eyes on a small vessel in local waters with two Cuban migrants on board who may need to come ashore. With the borders closed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, public health officials are now standing by to help CBC […]
Migrants land on Brac after 5 days at sea
(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 […]
Cuban migrant bill reaches $1.4 million
(CNS): Government has said that in the first five months of this year it had already spent around $1.4 million holding Cuban migrants in and out of the detention centre, almost as much as the entire budget for 2018 of $1.6 million. Government closed the Immigration Detention Centre at Fairbanks six weeks ago as it […]
Prison investment plans too slow, says HRC
(CNS): It is no secret that for many years conditions in Cayman Islands prisons have been dire and in desperate need of investment. But in a newly published document the Human Rights Commission detailed the human rights challenges, describing Cayman’s prison system as “overcrowded, chronically underfunded and in need of urgent investment”. The HRC warned […]
Eight Cubans begin hunger strike
(CNS): A group of eight Cuban migrants being held at the Immigration Detention Centre who landed in the Cayman Islands in September have begun a hunger strike to protest the immigration process, how their asylum claims are being handled, their access to bi-lingual attorneys and restricted access to communications. CNS understands that the asylum claims […]
Nine Cubans land in Brac as 18 return to sea
(CNS): A boat carrying 27 Cuban migrants arrived in waters around Cayman Brac at the weekend. However, it has since left the island with 18 people still aboard returning to its perilous voyage, the Department of Immigration (DoI) has confirmed. Before the boat left, eight men and one woman opted to disembark here and those […]
Detention centre reopens to hold Cuban migrants
(CNS): Officials have revealed that the Cayman Islands Department of Immigration (DoI) has reopened the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) to accommodate the eleven Cuban migrants who arrived in Cayman Brac last week after being at sea for almost a week. A government press release said the nine men and two women were transferred to the facility […]
Cubans come ashore after six days at sea
(CNS): Eleven Cuban migrants that came into local waters in Cayman Brac Friday morning after spending six days at sea are currently in immigration custody on the Sister Islands, officials have said. The group includes nine men and two women; two of the migrants have landed here on previous occasions. Their make-shift boat was spotted around 10am […]
Cubans released as HRC challenges detention
(CNS): The government has confirmed that it is overturning the policy of detaining all Cuban migrants who chose to land in local waters, regardless of their status, and the Department of Immigration (DOI) has determined that some detainees will be released from the detention facility pending the results of their legal matters. Given the length […]
Cubans still on hunger strike as CIG considers release
(CNS): Eight Cuban asylum seekers held at the Immigration Detention Centre (IDC) have continued to refuse the meals and refreshments provided, but officials said that they have been consuming some personal food items and they have all been seen by doctors. The purpose of the hunger strike, which began at the beginning of this month, […]
Cuban asylum seekers in Cayman begin hunger strike
(CNS): At least nine Cuban men who are seeking asylum in the Cayman Islands, some of whom have now been detained for more than two years and consider themselves political prisoners, have begun a hunger strike. The men are members of the Cuban Nationalist Party (PNC), the unofficial opposition to the current regime. They have […]
