The latest sizable group of migrants arriving by boat from Haiti and Cuba in recent months totaled 114 Haitians when they arrived in the Florida Keys early on Thursday, according to the US Border Patrol.
According to a tweet from Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar, border patrol, and law enforcement went to the scene at Tavernier, which is in the island chain south of Key Largo. At the location, he claimed, first responders were helping the migrants.
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Slosar posted a video on Twitter of a flimsy boat moored near Tavernier’s rocky coastline.
Following their arrival in the Marquesas Keys, a group of uninhabited islands off the coast of Key West, on Wednesday, an additional 26 migrants were detained.
Early in January, the Biden administration announced a change in strategy that would see many migrants turned away at the Texas border while simultaneously granting Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans a new type of humanitarian parole.
According to federal officials, migration from those nations had dwindled to a trickle by late January. Additionally, they have stated that they anticipate the new regulations to discourage maritime voyages, in part because illegal immigrants risk losing their eligibility for the new parole system.
Applicants from those countries have been rushing to sign up for the new scheme.
Even nevertheless, migrants from Haiti and Cuba have kept making perilous maritime crossings as their home nations’ economies weaken and inflation surges. Over 5,321 migrants have been detained at sea by the Coast Guard in the four months since October 1. This contrasts with 838 for the fiscal year 2021 and 6,182 for the whole prior year.
The fate of people who land on Florida’s shores might partly depend on their nationality, but those who are apprehended at sea are often repatriated. Despite extreme economic hardship and rampant political violence at home, unauthorized Haitian immigrants are more frequently turned back.
Since the US and Cuba do not have official diplomatic ties, it is challenging for the American governor to send back Cuban migrants. Frequently, they are given permission to visit South Florida relatives, but they are also given a directive to frequently check in with federal immigration authorities to establish their residence and status. However, they are not eligible to seek citizenship or permanent residency; they are only permitted to get work permits, driver’s licenses, and Social Security numbers.
