US returns Cubans who reached bridge

MIAMI - The US Coast Guard repatriated 15 Cubans on Monday who had tried to reach the United States but managed to get only as far as a pylon of an abandoned bridge in the Florida Keys.

The repatriation of the Cubans cast a renewed spotlight on the US policy of generally allowing Cuban who reach US soil to stay in the country, and sending back those intercepted by the Coast Guard at sea, a "wet foot, dry foot" policy that non-Cuban immigrant groups consider unfair.

The Coast Guard said Washington had decided that the old Seven Mile Bridge, reached by the 15 Cubans, was not connected to land, placing them in the "wet foot" category. As a result, they were sent back to Cuba in a group of 67 migrants.

The bridge, which runs parallel to a newer Seven Mile Bridge roadway connecting parts of the Keys, an island chain off mainland Florida's southern tip, is broken in places and mainly used by fishermen.

A small group of Cuban-American activists gathered in downtown Miami to protest the decision.

According to recent figures, the Coast Guard picked up 2866 Cubans at sea in 2005, nearly twice as many as the previous year and the highest number since 1994, when more than 37,000 were intercepted in a major exodus from the island.

All other undocumented immigrants, if caught inside the United States, are usually deported. Haitian groups in particular argue that the privileges extended to Cubans who reach land should be extended to other groups.

Of Caribbean residents hoping to reach the United States, only Dominicans took to the sea in greater numbers - 4388 last year compared with 4568 in 2004.

Fewer Haitians attempted the journey at 1828, compared with 3078 the year before.

- REUTERS