Just before dawn on Wednesday, the yacht arrived on the coast of Key West, Florida. According to the Border Patrol, 118 Haitian migrants disembarked in the early morning darkness and fled toward the shoreline.
Shortly after 4 a.m., the migrants were arrested by Miami Border Patrol agents with assistance from state and local law enforcement agencies, including the Key West Police Department and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.
The migrants were examined by local emergency medical technicians and given the all-clear during a medical examination at the scene. They said they had spent seven days at sea during their voyage to the United States. Border Patrol officials said the migrants were being transported to several facilities in the region for processing and disposition of their immigration cases.
Samuel Briggs II, patrol chief for the Border Patrol’s Miami Sector, posted a photo of the sailboat to X-Post. Photos taken by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office show migrants sitting on the bleachers, waiting to be removed by Border Patrol.
Key West, Florida, at approximately 4:00 a.m., U.S. Border Patrol agents, assisted by federal, state, and local law enforcement, responded to a migrant landing and encountered 118 Haitian migrants. Local EMS is on scene assessing the individuals. #Haiti #Florida #KeyWest pic.twitter.com/5y9FAGamMr
— Samuel Briggs II (@USBPChiefMIP) June 26, 2024
According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the group of Haitian migrants that landed in Florida on Wednesday is the largest group to land in the state this year. Civil unrest and unrest continues in Haiti, but recent predictions of a large influx of Haitian migrants on Florida shores as a result of this unrest have not yet materialized. According to CBP, Miami Border Patrol has encountered only 30 Haitian migrants since October.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ordered the deployment of additional state assets to Florida’s South Florida waters and the Keys in March in preparation for this influx. Currently, more than 250 additional law enforcement officers and soldiers, including Air Force and Navy ships, have been deployed as part of Governor DeSantis’ response force to prepare for any upcoming surge of migrants from Haiti.
The escalation of gang violence and unrest plaguing Haiti has prompted the United Nations to act to address the widespread violence plaguing the island nation. Hundreds of Kenyan police officers met with Haiti’s Prime Minister Garry Conille on Wednesday to announce they have been deployed to combat gang violence in the county. The Kenyan police are part of a UN-backed 2,500-person rapid response force that also includes police and soldiers from the Bahamas, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Chad and Jamaica.
Randy Clark Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the U.S. Border Patrol. Prior to his retirement, he served as Chief of the Law Enforcement Operations Division, where he led operations for nine Border Patrol stations in the Del Rio Sector, Texas. Follow him on Twitter: @RandyClarkBBTX.
