Florida – The New ‘Southern Border’ Entry Point For Immigrants

By Felicia J. Persaud

News Americas, FORT LAUDERDALE, FL, Fri. Aug. 5, 2022: While Florida’s Death Santis governor, who has foolish dreams of becoming President, has been busy slamming current President Joe Biden overopening the “southern border,” he seems to be missing the fact that Florida is fast becoming the new ‘southern border’ for illegal entry by immigrants – via the sea.

No longer is it just illegal land entry via the U.S.-Mexico border. In the past four weeks alone, almost 500 immigrants have landed in boats – some makeshift and rudimentary – via the open seas. Most are Cubans and Haitians seeking to flee from violence and economic woes at home.

The Coast Guard says more than 3,369 Cubans alone have been intercepted in trying to make the dangerous crossing so far, this fiscal year – that is October to July. Another 3,700 are estimated to be Haitians. That’s a total of over 71,00. The fiscal year ends in September.

That is a significant increase of over just 838 in the last fiscal year and 49 the year before that. In fact, the illegal landings in Florida have now reached levels not seen since 2016.

The immigrants choosing sea crossings to Florida are trying to make it to shore in even pedal boats across The Straits of Florida, which is 93 mi (150 km) wide at the narrowest point between Key West and the Cuban shore.

In a recent case, the US Coast Guard said it intercepted a sailboat carrying a large number of migrants off the coast of South Florida late on the morning of July 21st. Most were Haitians, packed on to the vessel like sardines. Crews discovered the vessel, which became grounded in the sand off Boca Chita, near southern Miami-Dade County.

A day later, on July 22nd, the US Coast Guard intercepted and detained 14 Cuban migrants after they came ashore in Long Key State Park, Fl, in a rustic tiny boat. The previous weekend, 9 more were picked up after landing in Jupiter, Florida, and before that, three migrants from Cuba were stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard aboard a makeshift vessel made out of a toy car south of the Florida Keys.

All of them braved the dangerous open seas to get here on boats not even fit for a complex community lake. One Cuban woman died, after suffering an injury on the migrant boat she tried to enter the US on.

Ramón Saúl Sánchez, leader of the Miami-based Cuban exile group Democracy Movement, told the Miami Herald that she was struck in the leg by the homemade migrant boat’s propeller shaft, which broke sometime during the dangerous journey.

Meanwhile all the immigrants are now in the custody of immigration authorities and will be repatriated by the Coast Guard. This latest arrival is just another in a long series of landings and interceptions at sea lately around Florida.

There’s been nothing on this from Death Santis or his right-wing cohorts, including the January 6th inciter-in-chief and ex-potus. Of course, there is also the matter of playing to the Cuban exile vote ahead of August 23rd Primary Elections.

For now, Death Santis is happy to instead pretend the problem is not at Florida’s doorsteps but is actually at the Mexican border. Sadly, the now daily landings is proving otherwise.

The writer is publisher of NewsAmericasNow.com – The Black Immigrant Daily News.