Two Cuban migrants treated for hypothermia after landing in Florida Keys
Two Cuban migrants were taken to a local hospital to be treated for hypothermia after arriving in the Florida Keys late Thursday night, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
The landing is part of a maritime migration surge of Cubans and Haitians fleeing their homelands for South Florida that has the Border Patrol, Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations busier than they’ve been in years.
Officials say deteriorating political, economic and security conditions within both nations are pushing an ever-increasing number of people to risk their safety in hopes of better lives. The Coast Guard said this week that Haitian migration to South Florida since Oct. 1 is at numbers not seen by the law enforcement agency in nearly 20 years.
Federal officials have not encountered so many Cubans setting a course over the treacherous Florida Straits since the end of the so-called “wet-foot, dry-foot” policy in early 2017. It allowed migrants from the island country who landed on U.S. soil to stay and apply for permanent residency after a year. Those stopped at sea were returned to Cuba.
Since the Obama administration ended the policy, most Cubans, whether stopped on the water or on land, are taken back to their country.
The Cubans who arrived Thursday came ashore in Long Key in the Middle Keys around 11 p.m., said Adam Hoffner, division chief of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Miami operations. They came in a homemade boat, Hoffner said.
“This is such a dangerous journey across the Florida Straits on a homemade vessel,” Hoffner said in an email. “In the event last night, the migrants reported their vessel started to sink shortly before reaching land.”
Their conditions were not immediately known Friday afternoon.
Border Patrol agents then found six more Cuban migrants around 4 a.m. in Key West, Hoffner said. They too arrived in a “rustic vessel,” Hoffner said.
“We encourage migrants not to risk their lives by attempting to take to the seas,” he said.
This story was originally published April 15, 2022 at 12:39 PM with the headline "Two Cuban migrants treated for hypothermia after landing in Florida Keys."
