By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

MORE than 300 Cubans have been intercepted at sea and brought to Grand Bahama in the past eight months as they continue flee their homeland in greater numbers to reach the United States.

On Tuesday, eight Cuban migrants, including a minor, were brought to Grand Bahama after being picked up in Bahamian waters by the US Coast Guard, the second time in a week that Cubans were intercepted at sea in Bahamian territory in their bid to get to the US.

Seven were intercepted at Anguilla Cay on Saturday and brought to Freeport. This latest group of eight was spotted in a rustic vessel in the Cay Sal Bank area.

Since January 2016, 367 Cuban migrants have been intercepted at sea and brought to Grand Bahama, according to senior immigration officials in Freeport. Up to the end of July, the total was 303 but 64 have been intercepted at sea in the past three weeks alone.

As a result of the renewed relationship established between the US and Cuba, Cubans have been fleeing the communist island nation more frequently, fearing that the US immigration policy that favours them will soon end.

Any Cuban who makes it to US soil is allowed to stay. And under special arrangements in the Cuban Adjustment Act, they can be granted permanent resident status after residing there for one year and later become a US citizen. This treatment is only afforded to Cubans and no other immigrant community.

Many migrants fleeing Cuba pass through the Bahamas on their way to Florida. Cubans who are intercepted at sea are not allowed to enter the US and are instead brought to the Bahamas, where they are detained to await repatriation to their homeland.

The US Coast Guard has increased its presence in the Florida Straits and in the Bahamas’ waters.

According to an article - ‘Fearing end of ‘wet foot, dry foot policy, Cubans fleeing to US in record numbers’ - published in April on the Fox News Latino website, tens of thousands of Cubans have fled Cuba since US President Barack Obama announced the normalisation of relations between the countries in late 2014.

In the article, it was reported that US Coast Guard figures have shown a 20 per cent increase over the previous year, with more than 4,400 Cubans that set out for the US by sea.

“The rush to leave has led to the highest number of people trying to make the dangerous sea crossing in the past eight years, according to internal Homeland Security Department documents obtained by The Associated Press”, the article stated. It added that “attempts to get the US by sea have recently reached worrisome levels”.

In June, Minister of Immigration and Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell told The Tribune that the Bahamas government is also seeing an increase in the number of Cubans illegally entering this jurisdiction in their attempt to reach the United States.

He noted that as far as he knows there is no anticipated change in the US immigration policy concerning Cubans.

Mr Mitchell said that the Royal Bahamas Defence Force is partnering with the US Coast Guard to intercept illegal migrants at sea.