KEY LARGO, Fla. — The six state troopers greeting a boat with 28 Cubans aboard in Key Largo on Sunday hinted at a stepped-up Florida response to a long-running influx of migrants into the southern island chain that Gov. Ron DeSantis recently declared a state emergency.
While there was no official confirmation of more Florida Highway Patrol officers in the Keys this weekend, a typical day has roughly six FHP troopers patrolling all 120 miles of road on the island chain. And local officials said they’ve been told to expect more police to respond to migrant landings, as well as National Guard helicopters to keep an eye out for approaching vessels fleeing Cuba and Haiti.
“It’s my understanding the state was going to send some extra Florida Highway Patrol officers and some assets from the National Guard just to help support more of the response to landings,” said Shannon Weiner, director of emergency management for Monroe County.
Law enforcement personnel on Sunday said the state response is growing following the governor’s declaration Friday of an emergency, activating the Florida National Guard and other state agencies to help patrol the waters surrounding the archipelago.
One law enforcement source told the Miami Herald that FHP troopers from various areas of the mainland are heading to the Keys in shifts — about five at a time, for two or three days at a time — as part of DeSantis’ plan to deal with the situation.
Another said more officers with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission — a state agency that enforces fisheries laws, but is now temporarily tasked with detecting maritime migrant arrivals — are expected to arrive in the Keys this week as part of the governor’s order.
The governor’s office was not immediately available for comment.
Hundreds, if not more than a thousand, Cubans have landed in the Keys since Christmas. On Tuesday, 130 people from Haiti arrived off Key Largo in an overloaded sailboat. On Sunday, there were 53 migrants reported by the U.S. Border Patrol, including 25 Cubans who arrived by boat in Marathon.
Their landing spot was Sister Creek, said Adam Hoffner, assistant chief patrol agent for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Division’s Miami operations.
That’s the site of the federal government’s Radio Martí radio tower, which broadcasts Spanish-language programming to Cuba in an effort to promote democracy and freedom of the press on the island.
While dozens of Cubans arrived in the Florida Keys on Sunday, more than 200 were sent back to Cuba after the U.S. Coast Guard stopped their boats before they reached U.S. shores.
DeSantis, a possible 2024 presidential candidate, declared the Biden administration’s response to the migrant arrivals “inadequate” in the emergency order he released Friday, saying the mass migration puts an undue burden on local law enforcement.
On Sunday, the Biden administration responded with a statement from the Department of Homeland Security that touted a “comprehensive” response underway since August and tighter rules for Cuban migration.
“Unfortunately, we have seen several governors play political games,” the administration statement read. “The fact of the matter is we are addressing Cuban migration through the process we announced on Thursday.”
The flow of Cuban migrants taking to sea doesn’t appear as if it will stop any time soon. Since Oct. 1, the beginning of the new government fiscal year, the U.S. Coast Guard has interdicted 4,795 Cubans at sea. That’s compared to 6,182 in all of fiscal year 2022.
On Sunday, the Coast Guard repatriated another 273 Cubans to Matanzas, a common departure point for people from the island who embark on migrant voyages. The agency has repeatedly warned of the life-threatening dangers of taking to sea.
“These illegal voyages are always dangerous and often deadly. We are working closely with partner agencies to save lives and prevent illegal entry to the United States via our southeast maritime border,” Lt. Cmdr. John Beal of Coast Guard District Seven said in a statement Sunday. “Those interdicted at sea will be repatriated.”
Sebastian Arcos, associate director of the Cuban Research Institute at Florida International University, said he’s expecting more migrant arrivals by sea as crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border decline, as people who can afford that costly trek through multiple countries dwindle. He warned a repeat of the “balsero” crisis nearly 30 years ago — when Cubans brought rafts to Florida in large numbers — could be on the horizon.
“I expect to see a progressive decline of crossings through the Mexico border and an increase through the Florida Straits,” he said. “A crisis like the one in 1994 is looming.”
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