Cuban migrants flow into Florida Keys, overwhelm officials
Published:Wednesday | January 4, 2023 | 5:52 PM
KEY LARGO, Florida (AP) — More than 500 Cuban immigrants have come ashore in the Florida Keys since the weekend, the latest in a large and increasing number who are fleeing the communist island and stretching thin US border agencies both on land and at sea.
It is a dangerous 100-mile (160-kilo meter) trip in often rickety boats — unknown thousands having perished over the years — but more Cubans are taking the risk amid deepening and compounding political and economic crises at home.
A smaller number of Haitians are also fleeing their country's economic and political woes and arriving by boat in Florida.
The Coast Guard tries to interdict Cuban migrants at sea and return them. Since the US government's new fiscal year began October 1, about 4,200 have been stopped at sea, or about 43 a day.
That was up from 17 per day in the previous fiscal year and just two per day during the 2020-21 fiscal year.
But an unknown number have made it to land and will likely get to stay.
“I would prefer to die to reach my dream and help my family. The situation in Cuba is not very good,” Jeiler del Toro Diaz told The Miami Herald shortly after coming ashore Tuesday in Key Largo.
The Department of Homeland Security said it would be issuing a statement Wednesday, but had not yet done so.
Because the US and Cuba do not have formal diplomatic relations, the American government has no way to repatriate them. Cubans are released but given an order that requires them to contact federal immigration authorities periodically to confirm their address and status. They are allowed to get work permits, driver's licences and Social Security numbers, but cannot apply for permanent residency or citizenship.
On the other hand, Haitian immigrants almost always get sent back, even though political persecution and violence is rife there, along with severe economic hardship.
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