Mexico navy picks up Cuban migrants adrift in boat

CANCUN, Mexico, Aug 3 (Reuters) Mexico's navy has intercepted 37 Cuban immigrants in a motor boat near a Caribbean beach resort, one of the largest detentions on an increasingly busy illegal route to the United States.

The boat had broken down, leaving the immigrants -- including two young children -- adrift off Mexico's Maya Riviera beach resorts, the attorney general's office said today.

Cuban immigrants are more and more crossing the Gulf of Mexico on speedboats that ferry them 140 miles (210 km) to Mexico's Yucatan peninsula rather than heading for Florida because they face being caught by the US Coast Guard on the way and sent home.

From the Yucatan, the Cubans make their way north on well-trodden migrant routes to the US-Mexico border.

Unlike illegal immigrants from other countries, Cubans can present themselves at US border entry points and are automatically paroled into the United States as political refugees. The US Coast Guard sends back Cubans intercepted at sea under a ''wet-foot, dry-foot'' policy, which allows those who make it ashore -- or to land border entry points -- to stay.

The Mexican navy turned the 37 Cubans found yesterday over to federal police, who were expected to hand them to immigration authorities.

Most Cuban illegal immigrants caught in Mexico spend time in detention centers but avoid repatriation and make their way to the US border.

REUTERS PBB BST0302