Four Cuban migrants have been moved from private accommodation to Gun Bay’s Elliott Conolly Civic Centre on Grand Cayman
The men, who join a group of 10 other Cuban migrants and one Nicaraguan migrant, were moved on Tuesday evening to what is the government’s latest housing solution for asylum-seekers awaiting resolution of their application process. Three of the men have been resident in the Cayman Islands for more than three years. The residents have been fitted with ankle monitors and must check in periodically with immigration officials as part of a supervised release programme, established last year as an alternative to detention.
The move comes as the George Town detention facility which is managed by the Cayman Islands’ Prison Service and previously housed migrants has been transformed into a low-security men’s prison facility to alleviate capacity issues at Northward Prison. After its conversion, there were complaints by residents that the facility was more like a jail to them than an immigration facility and the government has sought other ways to house migrants including the rental of private residences for which they provide up to $750 monthly per person for accommodation expenses.
