(Tribune News Service) — Coast Guard crews repatriated 50 people to Cuba and transferred 19 others to the Bahamas after spotting three suspicious boats in waters off the coasts of Florida and the Bahamas in the past week.

▪ The first interdiction: A Customs and Border Protection Maritime Patrol aircrew called in to the Coast Guard “a suspicious vessel” about 11 miles west of Cay Sal, Bahamas, on May 5. The Coast Guard Cutter William Trump crew interdicted the vessel and found 25 people aboard. The passengers had been en route illegally to the U.S., the Coast Guard said in media release.

▪ The second interdiction:A commercial boat salvage company reported to the Coast Guard, also on May 5, that its staff spotted a disabled 34-foot recreational boat about 25 miles east of Fort Pierce Inlet. Sector Miami watchstanders sent an Air Station Clearwater HC-130 aircrew who located the vessel and vectored in a Coast Guard Station Fort Pierce boat crew. Coast Guard members boarded the boat and found 19 people aboard attempting to migrate unlawfully to the U.S.

▪ The third interdiction: Coast Guard Cutter Hamilton crew were notified Thursday of a migrant vessel about 40 miles north of Havana. The Hamilton crew returned its 25 passengers to Cuba.

“The Coast Guard and our federal partners maintain a continual presence with air and sea assets in the Florida Straits and Caribbean Sea,” Lt. Connor Ives, Coast Guard District 7 response enforcement officer, said in a statement. “People attempting to migrate illegally into the U.S., will be interdicted, repatriated, or sent back to the country of origin.”

Since Oct. 1, 2022, Coast Guard crews interdicted or encountered 6,662 Cubans and 4,470 Haitian migrants.

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