Topic: Cuban migrants
Cayman repatriates six Cuban migrants
The Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control Service repatriated six migrants to the Republic of Cuba on 6 March.
In a press release issued on...
Eight Cuban migrants arrive by boat on Cayman Brac
Eight migrants arrived by boat at Spot Bay Cove in Cayman Brac on Monday night, 2 March, the Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control Service has confirmed.
Six Cubans rescued at sea; nine repatriated
Six adult Cuban males arrived in Grand Cayman Monday 16 Feb. while nine were repatriated to Cuba on 13 Feb.
Two Cubans escape from detention facility
The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service has confirmed that two Cuban migrants have escaped from the detention facility on Fairbanks Road, George Town.
10 migrants land by boat in Little Cayman
As Cayman puts preparations in place for a potential influx of Cuban migrants, a boat carrying 10 individuals arrived late on Saturday night on Little Cayman, authorities have confirmed.
Cayman prepares for possible Cuban influx
Governor Jane Owen says Cayman's security services are making contingency plans to respond if recent events in Venezuela result in an influx of Cuban migrants to Cayman.
Red Cross staff and volunteers provide shelter during Rafael
Thirty-six volunteers worked alongside Red Cross staff at shelters across Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac during Hurricane Rafael.
Government approves $2.4M for immigration detention centre
Government has approved funding for a new detention centre that can house more than 200 Cubans or other nationals arriving illegally in Cayman.
Eight Cubans rescued, two still missing as boat capsizes off Cayman Brac
Eight Cuban refugees have been rescued after their makeshift boat capsized off the coast of Cayman Brac. Two others said to be on board the stricken craft are still missing.
Four Cuban asylum seekers land in Cayman Brac
Four men who are seeking asylum in the Cayman Islands landed in Cayman Brac in a small wooden rowing boat on Friday, 22 Sept.
Cuban refugee bill tops $1.7 million so far this year
Government's bill for the management of Cubans who have landed illegally in Cayman crossed the $1.7 million mark at the end of August.
Cubans leave Cayman, as more arrive on boats
A number of Cubans who had previously arrived by boat have left Cayman, Customs and Border Control confirmed this week.
CBC: No other accommodations available for Cubans
Cayman's Customs and Border Control has said there are no other accommodations available at this time to move the Cuban migrants who have opted to sleep outside the Immigration Detention Centre due to rising chickenpox cases.
Cuban boat runs out of fuel off East End
Eight Cuban nationals who had opted to continue their journey by sea after 12 of their compatriots disembarked in Cayman Brac Sunday are being held by Customs and Border Control after their boat ran out of fuel off East End.
More Cuban migrants arrive in Cayman Brac
14 Cubans have been placed into temporary quarantine on Cayman Brac after arriving on two separate ships hours apart from each other.
COVID case found among Cuban migrants who landed on Brac
One of six Cuban migrants who have been taken into custody by Customs and Border Control has tested positive for COVID-19.
38 Cuban migrants under Customs and Border Control care
With the addition of eight migrants who arrived in Cayman on two separate boats in the last three weeks, there are now 38 Cubans in Customs and Border Control facilities.
Cuban boat arrives in Brac
A boat carrying three Cuban migrants arrived in Cayman Brac Tuesday morning, Customs and Border Control confirmed.
Cuban migrants arrive in East End
A vessel carrying five Cuban migrants arrived in East End Friday afternoon, Cayman Islands Customs and Border Control Service confirmed.
CBC searches for missing Cuban migrants
Customs and Border Control is searching for four Cuban nationals who have gone missing in Cayman.
Update: Cuban standoff: Baby running fever, says mom
The 1-year-old baby caught in the middle of the standoff between Customs and Border Control and 12 Cubans has a fever and is not feeling well, her mother Erica Alvarez-Freites has confirmed.
Cubans: ‘We do not want to go back to Cayman’
The Cayman Islands Coast Guard is escorting a Panamanian cargo ship carrying a group of Cuban migrants, who left Cayman over the weekend, to the George Town Harbour this morning.
Cubans, CBC locked in standoff at sea
Customs and Border Control officers are currently locked in a standoff with a group of Cuban migrants aboard a cargo ship anchored off the George Town harbour.
Cuban migrants land on Cayman Brac
Six Cuban migrants who landed on Cayman Brac Friday afternoon will be placed in mandatory quarantine, Customs and Border Control has said.
Cuban migrants placed in quarantine
A dozen Cuban migrants were taken into custody after landing in Little Cayman over the weekend.
Media report: Missing Cubans found in Mexico
The 14 Cubans who disappeared from the Cayman Islands earlier this week have been found in Mexico, according a media report from Cancun.
Border Control loses track of 14 Cuban migrants
The Customs and Border Control Service is trying to trace 14 Cuban migrants after the electronic monitoring devices they were wearing lost connection on Monday.
Cuban protesters, baby released from police custody
Three Cuban protestors and a baby were taken into custody by police on Wednesday while demonstrating outside the Government Administration Building over ongoing denial of refugees’ marriage rights in the Cayman Islands.
Cuban migrants arrive on Cayman Brac
Thirty-one Cuban migrants landed in Cayman Brac on Friday, 13 Dec.
Two migrants granted asylum after appeal
Two migrants – one a Cuban man, the other an unidentified woman – have been granted asylum in the Cayman Islands after initially being denied.
Detained Cubans announce second hunger strike in year
Seven Cuban men and one woman held at the Immigration Detention Centre are launching a hunger strike in protest of how government is handling their asylum applications, according to a Cuban migrant familiar with the situation.
After breakdown, Cuban vessel drifts from Brac to Little Cayman
Twenty-six Cuban migrants are being held on Cayman Brac after their boat broke down and landed in Little Cayman last week.
Cuban migrant wires mouth shut
A Cuban man who landed Friday with 10 other migrants in Cayman Brac has reportedly wired his own mouth shut.
Vessel carrying 11 Cuban migrants lands in the Brac
The Immigration Department announced on Friday that 11 Cuban migrants are in the care of its Cayman Brac officers after being spotted near the Brac around 10 a.m. that morning.
Filthy conditions discovered at immigrant center
Rotten food with maggot infestation, dirty and stopped-up toilets, moldy or damaged showers and inadequate fire prevention systems were found during an inspection of the Immigration Detention Centre in George Town last week by members of the Human Rights Commission.
3 Cuban migrants released from detention center
Three Cuban migrants were released from the Immigration Detention Centre on Friday, and will be allowed to live in the Cayman community while their applications for asylum are being processed.
Immigration reviewing detention of Cuban migrants
The Department of Immigration is “reviewing alternatives” to keeping the 13 asylum-seeking Cuban migrants detained at the Immigration Detention Centre while their asylum applications are being processed, the department stated on Wednesday.
Cuban migrants step up appeals, despite barriers
A Cuban asylum seeker detained in George Town for more than a year will take his case to the Grand Court, contesting what he believes to be a legally flawed rejection of refugee status by the Immigration Appeals Tribunal.
Cuban migrants wreck boat, land on Brac
A small group of Cuban migrants came ashore Monday in Cayman Brac after their vessel crashed and was destroyed, Immigration Department officials reported.
Government earnings increase with land sales, imports
Higher-than-expected earnings related to land transfers and vehicle/petrol imports boosted the Cayman Islands government’s earnings during the budget period that will end Dec. 31, Finance Minister Roy McTaggart said Friday.
EDITORIAL – Cuban migration: Cayman’s conundrum
At its most basic, Cayman’s Cuban migrant problem is this: Our tiny territory does not have the resources, population or infrastructure to accommodate hundreds of political refugees.
2 Cuban migrants rescued from sea; 29 others swim to shore
Two Cuban migrants were rescued by Joint Marine Unit officers while clinging to a channel marker after their vessel ran aground near Morritt's Tortuga Club Thursday evening.
Asylum seeker detentions pose legal questions
An influx of asylum applications is putting pressure on the Cayman Islands Department of Immigration to address gaps in staff training and shorten migrant detention times.
Government hit with $24 million in unexpected added costs
The Cayman Islands government was required to spend an extra $24 million in largely unanticipated, supplementary costs over the past two fiscal years.The expenses were detailed by Finance Minister Marco Archer in a statement to the Legislative Assembly Friday.
Migrant detainees allege intentional processing delays
Cuban migrants at the George Town Immigration Detention Centre allege asylum applicants have been held in detention indefinitely as a tactic to force self-requested deportation. Victor Maikel Merladet Leon said he has been in detention for two months.
Cuban migrants deported to Havana
Twenty Cuban migrants were repatriated from Owen Roberts International Airport to Havana, Cuba, on Tuesday in a joint effort between the Department of Immigration and the prison service.
Cubans request legal counsel
A Cuban migrant detained in George Town made a plea for asylum Monday that he hoped would reach the Cayman Islands Governor’s Office. An officer confirmed that 71 Cubans are currently being held in the facility, used to detain migrants who make unauthorized landfall in the Cayman Islands.
Cuban migrants cost extra $2.9M to house
The Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly will be asked later this month to formally approve an additional $2.9 million for the housing, care, feeding and repatriation of Cuban migrants who illegally entered and stayed in the territory between July 1, 2015 and June 30, 2016.
Cuban detainees renovate immigration detention center
Cuban migrants are helping to renovate the immigration detention center and building a new checkpoint and walkway at the neighboring women’s prison. Prison Director Neil Lavis said some of the migrants are skilled tradespeople and had volunteered to assist with the much-needed upgrades.
85 Cubans held in Cayman
Eighty-five Cubans are currently being held in detention in the Cayman Islands, including 34 who landed in Cayman Brac over the Christmas holiday weekend.
Cubans rescued after running aground on Little Cayman reef
A group of Cuban migrants ran aground on a reef off the eastern end of Little Cayman on Tuesday. According to police in the Sister Islands, the group was able to get the attention of a resident near Point of Sand, and several people in the area took boats out to rescue the 22 migrants off the reef Tuesday evening.
More than 80 Cuban migrants housed in Cayman
Eighty-two Cuban migrants are now being housed at various locations on Grand Cayman.
11 Cuban migrants land in Cayman islands
Eleven Cuban migrants who landed in the Cayman Islands over the past week and a half are being held in Immigration custody.
Six Cubans repatriated
The Cayman Islands Department of Immigration repatriated six Cuban migrants, three males and three females to Havana, Cuba, on Monday, according to a government statement.
Cuban migrants land in East End
Five boats carrying Cuban migrants have passed through Cayman waters this week, according to the Immigration Department, including seven men who landed in East End Friday morning.
Cuban boat runs aground on Brac
Immigration officials say a boat carrying nine Cuban migrants ran aground on rocks along the west side of the Brac.
Cuban migrants repatriated
The Department of Immigration repatriated 43 Cuban migrants to Havana, Cuba, over the past two weeks, officials said this week.
Sexual assault alleged at migrant center
The Human Rights Commission alleges that Cuban migrants have been subject to exploitation and sexual assault while awaiting repatriation in Cayman detention centers.
Police use pepper spray on Cuban migrant
One Cuban migrant was hospitalized and several others reported being sickened after they inhaled pepper spray that was used by police to help quell a disturbance at Bodden Town’s community center Tuesday.
Government spends $5.3M on migrants
The amount the Cayman Islands government spends for the detainment, care, housing and repatriation of illegal migrants has increased from an estimated $270,000 in the 2013/14 budget year to $3.6 million this year.
Cuban boat remains in South Sound
The wreck of a makeshift Cuban watercraft that was beached in South Sound on May 6 remained there Wednesday, after officials had pledged to remove it.
EDITORIAL – Return to sender: Cayman’s policy on Cuban migrants
The photograph of the Cuban boat on the front page of Tuesday’s newspaper is an image of a dream deferred.
Cuban migrants overflow detention center
Cayman Islands Immigration Department officials have a total of 116 Cuban migrants in custody at various locations, with a little less than half now being kept at various community centers on Grand Cayman.
Cuban boat beaches in South Sound
A rickety boat with Cubans seeking to eventually go to the United States beached in South Sound near Walkers Road. Immigration officers said Friday that a boat carrying 43 migrants had washed up in Grand Cayman after experiencing technical difficulties.
More Cubans pass through Cayman Brac
The second boatload of Cuban migrants in the past week was spotted Friday in Cayman Brac and were allowed to continue with their journey.
Boatload of Cubans lands in Brac
Some 21 Cubans landed in Cayman Brac on Sunday and were taken into custody by authorities prior to their pending transfer to Grand Cayman.
12 Cuban migrants repatriated
A dozen Cuban migrants were repatriated from the Cayman Islands to Havana last week.
13 Cuba migrants who landed on Little Cayman now in custody
Immigration authorities announced Thursday they had taken into custody a new group of Cuban migrants on Saturday, sending nine men and four women to the Fairbanks detention facility.
Cubans out of community centers, immigration officials confirm
An acute overcrowding situation involving dozens of Cuban migrants who were forced to temporarily live in various community centers on Grand Cayman has subsided, at least for the time being, Immigration Department officials confirmed Wednesday.
Security concerns persist amid recent Cuban migrant influx
Cuban migrants arriving on Cayman’s shores in the highest numbers experienced in the past decade are creating a security headache for immigration enforcement officials.
