20 Cuban refuges turn up at Chenay Bay Beach Resort

20 Cuban refuges turn up at Chenay Bay Beach Resort
By JOY BLACKBURN (Daily News Staff)
Published: June 11, 2013

A group of 20 Cuban refugees including 13 men, 6 women and 1 boy were
processed by the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Service in Sunny Isle, St.
Croix, before being taken to St. Joseph High School.

ST. CROIX - Another group of Cuban migrants - the second in less than
three months - has landed on the East End of the island.

According to information from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, local
authorities notified the federal agency at 6:12 a.m. Sunday about a
possible illegal landing in the vicinity of Coakley Bay.

When they arrived, Customs and Border Protection agents found 20
individuals in front of the entrance to the Chenay Bay Beach Resort,
according to an emailed response to Daily News inquiries by Jeffery
Quiñones, a spokesman for Customs and Border Protection.

The group comprised 13 men, 6 women and 1 child, all of whom "alleged to
be of Cuban nationality," Quiñones said in the email. Local people
working with the group since its arrival say the child is a teenage boy.

The 20 people were taken by Customs and Border Protection to the U.S.
Citizen and Immigration Service office in Sunny Isle to be processed by
Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Quiñones said.

Cuban migrants who enter the country illegally typically are processed
under the "Wet Foot, Dry Foot" policy, a 1995 amendment of the Cuba
Adjustment Act of 1966. The policy allows Cubans fleeing their country
who make it onto U.S. soil a chance to remain in the United States and
seek permanent residency, while those intercepted at sea are sent back
to Cuba or to another country.

Marla Matthew of the American Red Cross of the Virgin Islands said that
local resident Barbara Guerra contacted the agency about the Cuban
migrants and that the Red Cross is doing what it can to help.

The Red Cross provided them with comfort kits, food, some clothing, cots
and blankets, and the Sunny Acres Seventh-day Adventist Church provided
them with some bath linens and clothing, Matthew said.

The Red Cross, working with a number of people from the community, also
scrambled to find a place for the 20 to stay.

"Right now, they're staying at St. Joseph's High School, until we can
find a location for them," Matthew said. "We called upon Father Mike,
and he was very receptive to providing us with immediate space."

However, the arrangement at St. Joseph's is a very temporary one, as the
school is not equipped to have people living there for very long,
Matthew said.

At this point, they are looking for a place where the new arrivals can
stay a little longer.

"We're expecting we can place them in a more permanent facility in the
next few days," Matthew said. "We're still searching for a place. We're
appealing to our community to assist us."

Anyone who wants to help with providing a place to stay can call Guerra
at 690-8434 or Pastor Carlos Hidalgo at 642-5448.

This is the second group of Cuban migrants to be dropped off on St.
Croix in less than three months.

A group of 14 people turned up in March, and Sunny Acres Seventh-day
Adventist Church opened up its multi-purpose building and allowed them
to stay there until their papers were in order.

All 14 have since moved stateside, officials said Monday.

- Contact reporter Joy Blackburn at 714-9145 or email
jblackburn@dailynews.vi.

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