MIAMI (NewsNation Now) — America’s immigration crisis is not just occurring along the Southern border with Mexico — it’s also growing on the shores of Florida.
Ten Cuban migrants were rescued from a sinking vessel about 40 miles off the coast of Key Largo last week. Six of them were repatriated to Cuba, and four others were evacuated to Florida for medical treatment
The Coast Guard says the boat didn’t have life jackets or safety equipment, and that the immigrants likely would have died without assistance.
And just last month, a boat believed to be used for human smuggling capsized off Florida’s coast en route from the Bahamas. Only one of the 40 passengers survived. These are just some of the incidents in what a member of the Coast Guard says is a growing stream of migrant boats from the Caribbean heading for the shores of Florida.
Lt. Cmdr. Joshua Harrington says there has been an increase in the amount of migrants flocking to Florida shores, mostly from Haiti and Cuba.
“It seems there have been more cases than maybe a year ago,” Harrington told NewsNation’s Brian Entin while on a Coast Guard surveillance mission.
Surveillance teams are now scanning the water and beaches looking for migrants, flying over Miami over to the Bahamas and even all the way off the coast of Cuba. Radar and advanced cameras on the plane can see for miles – zooming in on anything that could be suspicious.
“The one thing that will give it away is the construction of the vessel,” Harrington said. “So if it appears homemade and put together with barrels, or Styrofoam, or anything else used for flotation. Sometimes they are wooden”
If the Coast Guard sees migrants or anyone in distress they open up the plane’s rear cargo door and drop down life jackets, life rafts, food, water and even a pump to help boaters.
The crew will then radio a Coast Guard cutter in the area to intercept the migrants. The Coast Guard interdiction numbers are going up for Cubans making the treacherous journey, according to a government statement last month.
In 2021, almost four times more Haitians were intercepted by the Coast Guard compared to the previous year.
Marleine Bastien of the Family Action Network says the high numbers of people attempting to migrate from a country can be directly correlated with political instability.
“When we look at the migration flow, whenever there is high level of political instability in Haiti, then there is a peak in the migration flow,” Bastien told NewsNation.
Haiti has seen an unprecedented amount of instability in the last six months with two devastating earthquakes and the assassination of the president. All of it makes the Coast Guard busier.
“We get on scene. We figure out what it is. And then kind of assess the situation. Are they safe? Are they not safe? Do we need to take action now?” Harrington said. “Every situation is different and you never know what you are going to come across.”