Coast Guard: Fewer Cuban rafts trying to reach US soil

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — The U.S. Coast Guard says Cuban migrants are less likely to use homemade rafts to try to reach Florida since the end of a policy granting residency to Cubans arriving on American soil.

Lt. j.g. Kate Webb of Coast Guard Sector Key West said overall interdictions have dropped from as many as 25 a day to about 20 per month since President Barack Obama ended the “wet foot, dry foot” policy Jan. 12.

Webb said Tuesday that up to 70 percent of interdictions now involve go-fast boats, not the rustic vessels called “chugs.” The speedboats are towed to shore for law enforcement investigations.

Capt. Jeffrey Janszen told The Citizen (http://bit.ly/2oGSOt3 ) that migrants pay up to $10,000 each to cross aboard go-fast boats, compared with several hundred dollars in a chug.