More than 70 Cubans land in the Keys in less than a week

More than 40 Cubans made landfall at the Marquesas Keys Tuesday.

Their arrival signals a resumption of heavy migration from the communist island nation after a brief hiatus following the death of its former leader Fidel Castro on Nov. 25.

Nine Cubans arrived on Craig Key Monday morning in a steel-hulled vessel powered by what appeared to be a six-cylinder Ford gasoline engine, said Islamorada resident Carmen Alex.

The 30 men and 11 women who landed at the Marquesas, about 20 miles west of Key West, arrived in a single-engine fishing boat, said Supervisory U.S. Border Patrol Agent Adam Hoffner. He said they left the village of Cojimar on Sunday.

“The vessel was severely overloaded and not equipped with any navigational devices or safety equipment,” Hoffner said.

They were picked up by the U.S. Coast Guard and turned over to the Border Patrol in good health, Hoffner said.

Since they touched down on land, the migrants will likely be allowed to stay and apply for permanent U.S. residence in a year. The “wet-foot, dry-foot” stipulation of the Cuban Adjustment Act requires Cubans caught at sea trying to reach the United States be returned. But if they set foot on American soil, they can stay in most cases.

The migrants who landed on Craig Key, mile marker 73.5, said theirs was a nine-day journey at sea, according to Alex. Hoffner said the group included eight men and one woman. Witnesses provided them with water and cash, Alex said.

On Sunday, two groups of Cubans, 23 in all, arrived in the Keys. Eight arrived in Key Largo, and 15 arrived on Windley Key, Hoffner said.

Following a thaw in diplomatic relations between the Obama administration and the Raul Castro regime in 2015, there has been a surge in migration by Cubans fearing wet-foot, dry foot could soon end.

However, after Fidel Castro’s death at the age of 90, there was a lull in maritime migrant activity to South Florida. That ended Tuesday, Dec. 6 with the arrival of 13 Cubans on Big Pine Key.

Hoffner said the migrants are not just coming on their own in makeshift vessels. They often are helped by human smugglers who make thousands of dollars per every migrant they deliver to the United States.

“We will continue to work with our partner agencies to identify trends and adjust our tactics or operations to counter smuggling networks in the Florida straits,” Hoffner said. “The smugglers are not concerned with the safety of the people they are smuggling, rather they continue to put the lives of the migrants at risk.”

This story was originally published December 14, 2016 at 4:13 PM with the headline "More than 70 Cubans land in the Keys in less than a week."