Report: Cuban migration down

MIAMI, Sept. 28 (UPI) -- U.S. Coast Guard officials say 25 percent fewer Cuban migrants were caught trying to illegally enter the United States this year.

In this fiscal year, which ends Tuesday, 2,140 Cuban migrants were caught trying to enter the United States. In the previous fiscal year, 2,868 Cuban migrants were taken into custody, The Miami Herald reported Sunday.

During the last two years, an estimated 100 Cuban migrants died or were reported missing and presumed dead in trying to reach the United States, the Coast Guard said.

Last week, a Cuban man trying to reach Florida on a speedboat overloaded with 33 passengers died from head injuries when the boat capsized in rough seas, the Herald reported.

The Coast Guard said it had returned 29 Cuban migrants in four separate incidents during the past week.

The Coast Guard operates under what is called the U.S. wet-foot, dry-foot policy that allows Cubans who reach land to remain in the United States.