‘It’s blackmail’ - Cuban migrants say they’re under U.S. pressure to discuss smuggling

'It's blackmail': Cuban migrants say they're under U.S. pressure to
discuss smuggling
BY ALFONSO CHARDY
ACHARDY@ELNUEVOHERALD.COM

About 20 Cubans who arrived in the U.S. Virgin Islands on a migrant boat
two months ago have been unable to travel to South Florida because
immigration authorities refuse to grant them paroles, according to a
member of the group.

The paroles are key because the Cuban migrants need them to be formally
admitted into the United States under the Cuban Adjustment Act.

U.S. officials in the Virgin Islands have delayed delivery of the parole
documents until the Cuban migrants agree to assist in a migrant
smuggling investigation, providing information about the boat's captain
and the journey, according to the Cuban who spoke to el Nuevo Herald by
phone from St. Thomas. He did not want his name published.

"It's blackmail," the Cuban said, referring to the U.S. officials'
pressure tactics.

The case has opened a window into a little-known escape route for Cuban
migrants.

Cubans have been able to get tourist visas for St. Lucia, a nation of
the Lesser Antilles in the Caribbean, and have been using the island as
a jumping-off point for illegal migrant boat trips to the U.S. Virgin
Islands.

Members of the group that is now delayed in St. Thomas, part of the
USVI, left Cuba separately for St. Lucia, and from there boarded a boat
bound for U.S. territory.

Under the current wet foot/dry foot policy, Cubans who reach U.S. soil
are allowed to stay, while those intercepted at sea are generally
returned to Cuba.

Delays in parole deliveries have been reported before in the U.S. Virgin
Islands. But previously, U.S. officials have blamed the delays on
limited staff.

Thirty-eight Cuban migrants who had been picked up near the Virgin
Islands in April were denied repatriation by Cuba after officials there
learned they had been sailing toward St. Lucia, not the U.S. mainland.
After a few days, the Cuban government relented, and the Coast Guard
finally was able to return the Cubans to the island under the wet
foot/dry foot policy.

After discovering the St. Lucia route, U.S. authorities began an
investigation with a view to disrupting migrant smuggling operations.

The Cuban who described the situation involving the 20 migrants in St.
Thomas said U.S. immigration officials want witnesses to implicate the
boat captain in order to prosecute him.

"We told them that we do not have a clear recollection of what happened
and therefore we cannot finger anyone," the Cuban said. "It was then
that they began delaying the delivery of the paroles to us."

The Cuban said that in some cases, immigration officials had shown some
of the members of the group parole documents with their names already
filled in but told them they would not be delivered until they agreed to
testify against the boat captain.

The Cuban who spoke to el Nuevo Herald said immigration authorities
delivered five paroles late Thursday, but that the majority of group
members still had not received them.

A spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
declined to comment.

The majority of Cuban migrants now arrive in the United States via the
Mexican border. More than 13,100 Cuban migrants have crossed the border
from Mexico since Oct. 1, 2014.

Between Oct. 1, 2013 and Sept. 30, 2014, at least 17,459 Cuban migrants
crossed into the United States from Mexico.

At least 1,469 Cuban migrants have been interdicted at sea since Oct. 1.

Source: 'It's blackmail': Cuban migrants say they're under U.S. pressure
to discuss smuggling | Miami Herald Miami Herald -
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/cuba/article22238028.html