Reuters

MIAMI -- A group of Cubans will spend Christmas back home on the Communist-ruled island and not in Miami as they hoped.

The U.S. Coast Guard said it had repatriated the group Monday to Bahia de Cabanas, three days after the speedboat in which they were trying to reach the United
States stalled 17 miles off the Florida coast.

The group--17 men, 12 women and a boy and girl--were picked up by a Coast Guard cutter in rough seas. After immigration officials interviewed them, a decision
was made to send them back to Cuba. A suspected smuggler was in custody.

"A month after 30 Cubans apparently died because of smugglers' disregard for safety and the lives of those on board, dozens more were placed in danger on an
overcrowded boat in rough seas," said Lt. Cmdr. Ron LaBrec, a Coast Guard spokesman.

Under the United States' controversial "wet foot/dry foot" policy, Cuban migrants who reach U.S. shores are allowed to stay but those found at sea are usually sent
home unless they can provide grounds for political asylum.

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