FLORIDA KEYS, Fla. — Since last year, our team at Florida 24 has been bringing you stories about the intricacies and ever-changing environment of immigration here in the state of Florida.
We took a trip down to the Florida Keys to see what reality has been like recently and how it’s expected to change once again.
You’ve seen the pictures of hundreds of migrants aboard homemade vessels trying to make their way to the Florida Key’s shores.
“It’s been a common place where we have encountered migrant landings throughout the last year,” shared Chief Patrol Agent Adam Hoffner.
Chief Hoffner is with US Customer and Border Protection. He took us to a hotspot in Marathon called Sombrero Beach, “About a month ago, we had a migrant landing here.”
But since it’s been quiet.
“In the last two months, we still have some movement and some illegal maritime migration, but it has slowed down in comparison to the new year,” stated Hoffner.
According to CBP, since Oct. 1 of last year, agents have responded to 280 migrant landings in Florida, with about 5,000 migrants.
Compared to the fiscal year of October 2021 to October 2022, they had more than 2,500 encounters on land and close to 100 maritime encounters.
The question is, why is there a slowdown?
“The policy changes and things like that can definitely have an impact,” answered Hoffner.
Hoffner is referring to the parole program enacted at the start of this year that allows Cubans, Venezuelans, Nicaraguans, and Haitians to fly to the US and remain for up to two years as long as they have an eligible sponsor supporting them.
The Department of US Homeland Security also stated at the beginning of May that they would be resuming repatriation flights.
“The policies because they have changed so much, I know when I have spoken to migrants a lot of them, they don’t know what the Florida rules are or the federal rules are,” said Reporter Sophia Hernandez. “When you encounter these migrants, what is almost just kind of the consensus?”
Hoffner answered, “We have certainly seen a mix of emotions. Some maybe not be informed, but we really work hard with our partners to post messages on social media, whether it’s a news release or an update and a status. And essentially, they may come with some mixed emotions, and we understand, but the journey at sea is very dangerous and the focus of our messaging is to not take to the seas and if there’s a legal pathway, that’s what we encourage.”
Hoffner shows our crew the reality.
For the entire stretch of the Florida Keys, there are roughly two agents driving the roads at a time.
The department also scours hundreds of private and public boat ramps.
At one public ramp, Hoffner said, “[We] talk to routine boaters, community members and do inspections of inbound and outbound vessels, [vessels] going to a foreign territory, things like that and look for anything suspicious or anyone transporting anything.”
It's all hands on deck. The agency relies on Good Samaritan calls plus local and state partners to help them respond to calls for landings that happen during the day and at night.
“When you get that call and somebody says I have spotted a migrant, what do you do?” asked Sophia.
“Let’s say, for example, we have a migrant landing here,” stated Hoffner. “Our agents will respond on scene. Typically, we will have support from our partner agencies. And like anything, we will have to protect the scene, safety of people around, and of the people on the vessels. Our primary mission is national security.”
The second focus is on humanitarian needs.
Florida, the Keys, in particular, face an interesting challenge by having water on all sides.
Title 42, a pandemic-era law that allowed agents at the border to turn away migrants because of potential health risks, didn’t apply to our maritime borders. Instead, holding cells in the Marathon office were full to capacity. Migrants were then repatriated, given a court date, or transferred to an ICE facility.
But now, the holding cells, which we aren’t allowed to show on camera, have been empty for days.
Since the spike, the department’s made some changes. After hundreds of migrants landed in the Dry Tortugas and Marquesas Key in January of this year, CBP assigned agents to solely cover those offshore areas.
The agency also now has contracted medical staff assigned to their headquarters to be able to medically screen migrants by the hundreds for motion sickness, dehydration, or falling on the rough seas.
“Like anything with our operations, we adjust, we sit down, and we strategize how we can best allocate our resources when we encounter these increases.”
While things have tapered off, Hoffner said they are expecting landings to ramp back up now that we are in the summer months.
They are ready to respond whenever needed.
