US removes Cuban migrants from remote Florida islands

KEY WEST, Fla. (AP) — The Coast Guard removed more than 300 Cuban migrants from a remote island national park off the Florida coast Thursday as the United States government sought to handle the latest influx of people arriving by boat from the communist island.

Homeland Security officials said the Coast Guard took 337 migrants from Dry Tortugas National Park on a 70-mile (113-kilometre) trip to Key West, where they will be processed.

They were among more than 700 migrants, mostly Cubans, who arrived in Florida by boat over the New Year's weekend, prompting officials in Florida to appeal to the federal government to do more to deter migrants arriving illegally.

On Thursday, the Biden administration signalled a tougher stance on migrants coming from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, while offering a new path for migrants from those countries to enter legally.

The government said it would immediately start turning away Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans who cross the US-Mexico border illegally, as it has done with Venezuelans.

At the same time. it would accept 30,000 people per month from those four nations who arrive legally, have eligible sponsors and pass background checks. It was not immediately clear what impact this would have on migrants who arrive in Florida.

More than 4,400 Cubans and Haitians have arrived in Florida since August amid deepening and compounding political and economic crises in both countries.

Almost 8,000 were stopped at sea and returned to their homelands — about 50 per day compared with 17 per day in the 2021-22 fiscal year and just two per day during the 2020-21 fiscal year.

Officials said at least 65 migrants have died since August trying to make the dangerous trek in often rickety boats.

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