Coast Guard Almost Let 15 Rescued Cubans Stay
Coast Guard officers who rescued 15 Cubans on an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys were taking the group to shore when senior officials told them to stop and await a decision on whether the migrants could stay, according to a report in the Miami Herald.
The Coast Guard kept the 15 Cubans on a boat for five days, then sent them home after concluding the abandoned Keys bridge -- which no longer connects to land -- did not count as dry U.S. soil under the government’s wet-foot, dry-foot Cuban immigration policy.
A federal judge ruled Tuesday that the Cubans were removed illegally and ordered the United States to use its “best efforts” to help them return.
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