MIAMI, Fla. — Cubans David López Alfonso and Ismael Hernández Chirino who arrived Saturday, March 24, at an airport in the Florida Keys aboard a motorized hang glider, were questioned by immigration officials, and are being detained by the Service Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) being deported, a Border Patrol chief reported Thursday.
“Both individuals have been interviewed, processed for deportation and detained by ICE. The planes will be seized by federal authorities,” said Walter N. Slosar, chief agent for the Border Patrol in the South Florida sector. , in a tweet.
In cases such as those of the pilots and other migrants who arrive under similar conditions, it is a standard procedure followed by the American authorities, explained the lawyer for the pilots, Willy Allen, who assured that the next step is to avoid deportation via an asylum application.
Relatives of López Alfonso and Hernández Chirino have asked the American authorities not to deport the young pilots.
From the island, the family of these Cubans assured this week that they were in shock and extremely worried after learning the news of the departure of the two in an ultra-light aviation team of the “Trike” type, registered CU -U-1619 and has provided services in the tourism sector where it has been used in the air sports modality in the tourist pole of the Eastern Beaches, in Havana.
“The government is filing a complaint and so is the Aviation Club”, explains Yaneisy, López Alfonso’s companion, who assures that her husband would go to prison “for life” if he returns to the island and “just for having sought freedom. “.
“Here they were out of work, and that was the only thing they did, they were commercial airline pilots,” says David López Alfonso’s wife.
For her part, Laura Hernández Chirino, Ismael’s sister, says “they made commercial flights for tourism and with Cubans who could afford it”, so they were “in a house in Tarará that belonged to the club of aviation, waiting for the service to be able to redo commercial flights”.
Hernández’s family say they were unaware of his plans, but they are asking that the youngsters not be sent back to Cuba, as they have been considered “abandoned pilots” by the Cuban authorities, who have called the fact of theft and violation of Cuban, as recognized by the Cuban Aviation Club in a statement.
“If they come back to them, the problem they are going to look for has no words, it cannot be compared to anything. The problem they are going to look for is going to be gigantic, they can never be someone ‘other in their life,’ she worriedly warns Laura Hernández Chirino, Ismael’s sister, who says her parents are unable to talk about what happened.
After a flight of just over two hours, the two young men arrived at Key West International Airport where they were detained, according to law enforcement sources, both were handed over to the Border Patrol, but at least one of them is already in a Broward Detention Center.
The Cubans, who had no problems during the flight, arrived in the United States around 10:30 a.m., having left the residential area of Tarará on Cuba’s northern coast around 8:05 a.m.