Patently false.
You are making it up as you go along.
Present proof that the US Coast Guard calls relatives in the US to confirm whether a refugee will suffer persecution in Cuba while the INS officials are conducting a 5-minute interview in the middle of the ocean.
Yeah, you caught me. I made this up too...
No Asylum Decisions Yet On 15 Cuban Migrants
Officials Say They Don't Believe Vessel Was Hijacked
POSTED: 7:29 p.m. EDT July 18, 2003
MIAMI -- Immigration officials had not decided Friday whether to grant asylum to 15 Cuban migrants who were intercepted at sea on a government-owned boat.
The migrants were taken aboard a U.S. Coast Guard cutter on Wednesday after the vessel was stopped in international waters in the Straits of Florida. The Cuban government said its coast guard chased the 36-foot vessel into Bahamian waters Tuesday after it was taken from the communist island.
Coast Guard officials said they don't believe the boat had been hijacked, contradicting Cuban government reports.
Under the U.S. government's wet-foot, dry-foot policy, Cuban migrants who are intercepted at sea are usually repatriated and those who get to land are allowed to stay.
But the threat of execution -- the Cuban government used a firing squad to execute three men on April 11 who were convicted of hijacking a ferryboat in Havana Bay -- has raised humanitarian concerns over returning the migrants among some experts.
The migrants were still being interviewed Friday aboard the cutter, said Ana Santiago, a spokeswoman with the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services.
She could not comment on whether the migrants had requested asylum because of fear of persecution in Cuba.
"Everyone is judged on their own merits," Santiago said.
The State Department is considering the threat of retribution against the accused hijackers.
"We have our concerns," a State Department official said. "But basically a decision is premature at this point."
Present proof that the US Coast Guard calls relatives in the US to confirm whether a refugee will suffer persecution in Cuba while the INS officials are conducting a 5-minute interview in the middle of the ocean.
Let's see... I think I said that I recall reading articles to the effect that relatives call the State Dept ahead of time to inform them. The refugees identify themselves and then more questioning can start there. I also said that I don't have the exact references in front of me as these weren't internet articles. Your demand for proof is idiotic. Are you in Florida? Guess what... down here, Cuban issues make for local news and we read more about it.