Florida Keys officials ask feds for help in light of recent migrant landings
MIAMI - As the number of migrant landings increases dramatically, Monroe authorities desperately ask for federal help.
"What we're seeing in my county Monroe, in the Keys, 120 miles of waterway, mass migration," said Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay in Doral on Wednesday while at least 40 more Cuban migrants landed at different parts of the Florida Keys, in the morning.
"I got migrants landing in upper, middle, lower keys… So, we're concerned about the impact of immigration and the lack of a (federal) plan."
Ramsay joined senator Rick Scott at a press conference addressing what the Sheriff labeled as an "unprecedented crisis, depleting local resources."
On Wednesday, a group of Cuban migrants landed in Key Largo, 20 men and one woman.
They each identified themselves by name to Cuban-American activist Ramon Saul Sanchez, who asked them to do it on social media so their loves would know they made it alive.
Meanwhile, on Isla Morada, another group of migrants arrived, reportedly 20 also from Cuba.
The rustic vessel used for their voyage became an attraction for local residents, one of them Yuviesly Mirabal. He told CBS4 he was so attracted to the draft because, "it makes me remember what I went through to come to the U.S. in 2005, I came in one of these."
"He (the sheriff) got a number of immigrants that have come now into Monroe County with no federal support," said Republican Senator Rick Scott after hearing Ramsay.
CBS4 asked Scott if he planned a trip to the Keys to see what is happening.
"I may have the opportunity to go down there," responded Scott without specifying a date or what he would propose. He was open to the idea of having more U.S. Coast Guards around the Florida Keys, as it used to happen before.
Yet, the senator said, "Here's the issue once they catch them, these countries like Cuba don't even accept these people back.
The federal government shut down Dry Tortugas National Park after nearly 500 Cubans landed there over new year's weekend.
Ramsay insists that his officers are not doing the job they're supposed to be doing "because they are dealing with this crisis."