Many Cuban exile groups responded angrily to the Bahamas' actions.  They wanted the people to be able to come to the US, rather than being returned to Cuba.

The Bahamas returned the refugees on the grounds that the cost of keeping them was far too high.  They hoped to discourage emmigration to the Bahamas to avoid the cost of keeping refugees.

Some of those returned were defecting baseball players.  Representatives of the United Nations interviewed them, but determined they had not in any way been politically persecuted and therefore should not receive political asylum.