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Three Cubans swim to land in FloridaPolicy allows refugees who reach land to stay
MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Three Cuban men who jumped off a boat in open seas and swam nearly two miles to land in Florida on Tuesday managed to reach a neighborhood -- and authorities -- after a 30-minute walk through a mangrove forest. They will likely be allowed to remain in the United States because of the "wet foot, dry foot" policy that allows Cubans who reach U.S. soil to stay. Those who are caught in the water face repatriation to Cuba. After their trek, which ended with another swim, this time across a narrow inlet into someone's back yard, the men were greeted by about two dozen residents and several law enforcement officials, who had earlier promised the men through sign language that they would not be put in handcuffs. As the men reached the back yard, residents cheered. Some hugged the men, who were wearing only their swimsuits, and others pressed small American flags into their hands. After brief treatment in an ambulance, the men were taken away in a border patrol vehicle. The men's dash to Florida began earlier in the afternoon, when Coast Guard vessels moved toward their boat about two miles off the northern coast of Key Largo. Coast Guard Petty Officer Ryan Doss told CNN that the agency was alerted to the incoming migrants at 3:30 p.m. EDT. When the first Coast Guard ship arrived, he said, the men were still on their boat and tried to deflect the Coast Guard with weapons. "As soon as the boat approached, they tried to use their oars, machetes and knives, swinging them at our people," Doss said. "So our officers used pepper spray to disarm them. They dropped everything in the water as far as I know." The men jumped from their wooden craft into the water about 4 p.m., Doss said. Surrounded by three Coast Guard boats, the men treaded water and threw back life preservers when they were offered. Fourth man taken into custodyA fourth man who had been on the small wooden boat gave up and sat handcuffed aboard a Coast Guard boat. Doss said the man will be given food and water, and medical treatment if necessary. He will then be transferred to a Coast Guard cutter to be interviewed by agents from the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who will determine whether he is making an asylum claim. Video from local news stations showed the three other men briefly holding onto a rope on the side of a Coast Guard boat. Later, they accepted the life jackets and used them to keep themselves afloat as they swam to shore. Coast Guard officers on board the boats -- two Zodiacs and a larger ship -- could be seen gesturing and talking to the men. Doss said the Coast Guard had the authority to grab the men and haul them on board, but the aggressiveness the Cubans displayed when initially approached made them decide against it. "We don't want to put anyone, including our own officers, in danger by putting them in the water and getting involved in a struggle where someone could get hurt," he said. "Any time there's a person in the water, we treat it as a rescue case and not a law enforcement case," Doss added. After slowly swimming to waters too shallow for the Coast Guard vessels, the men walked gingerly on the coral seabed and finally reached the rocky beach on Key Largo. One raised his arms in victory as the three disappeared into a marshy forest.
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