118 Haitian Migrants Land on Florida Beach

A sailboat reached the shores of Key West, Florida, just before daybreak on Wednesday. In the early morning darkness, 118 Haitian migrants disembarked and made a break for the shoreline, according to the Border Patrol.

Just after 4:00 a.m., the migrants were apprehended by Miami Sector Border Patrol agents with the assistance of state and local law enforcement agencies. These included the Key West Police Department and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office.

{snip} Border Patrol officials said the migrants were transported to several facilities in the region for processing and disposition of their immigration cases.

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According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP), Wednesday’s group of Haitian migrants is the largest single group to make landfall in Florida this fiscal year. Despite continued civil unrest and turmoil in Haiti, recent predictions of a large influx of Haitian migrants arriving on the shores of Florida as a result of the unrest have yet to materialize. According to CBP, the Miami Border Patrol sector has only encountered 30 Haitian migrants since October.

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