Forty Cuban migrants sneaked ashore in Florida as a training exercise designed to deal with a possible mass exodus from Cuba was under way, officials say.
They were found on two beaches. A US border patrol spokesman said the case enhanced the realism of the exercise.
The two-day Operation Vigilant Sentry, which ended on Thursday, involved 325 agents and 85 law enforcement agencies.
Most Cubans who reach US shores are allowed to stay - those intercepted at sea are usually returned to Cuba.
Actually, somebody should tell the BBC that, here in the U.S., they are called "refugees" not "migrants." You see Cuba is, what we call, a repressive communist regime. These folks are not "migrating," they are escaping.
It is always an odd game we play with the Cuban refugees. If we pick them up at sea we return them, this is supposedly to discourage a mass exodus that could put many more lives at risk, and which could overwhelm the already stretched Coast Guard resources. Of course, if the refugees are able to avoid detection and make it to shore they are generally allowed to stay.
I'm not sure what it says that forty people were able to get to land in the middle of an operation. Maybe it means the Coast Guard was distracted by the exercise, but you would have thought part of the drill would have been to detect small craft at sea attempting to gain the coast.
It doesn't sound like this is a real confidence booster.
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