Photo: Department of Homeland Security (DHS) / EFE
the governor of Florida Ron DeSantis signed an executive order Friday activating the Florida National Guard to help with the “alarming influx of migrants landing in the Florida Keys” and to prevent further arrivals of undocumented immigrants to the state’s shores.
DeSantis blamed the White House for the massive influx of immigrants from Cuba and Haiti that has arrived in the Florida Keys in recent days.
“As the negative impacts of Biden’s lawless immigration policies continue unabated, the burden of the Biden administration’s failure falls on local law enforcement who lack the resources to deal with the crisis,” DeSantis said. “That’s why I’m activating the National Guard and directing state resources to help ease the pressure on local resources. When Biden continues to ignore his legal responsibilities, we will step in to support our communities.”
The executive order also authorizes the allocation of new state resources to face the migratory wave of Cubans and Haitians that is affecting the south of the state, as well as “help alleviate the pressure on local resources.”
The executive order will allow the state to “deploy air assets, including Florida National Guard aircraft and helicopters,” the governor’s office said in a statement.
The measure is intended to “strengthen the marine patrol of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) to support interceptions” at sea and “guarantee the safety of migrants trying to reach Florida,” it adds.
Republican DeSantis argues in his executive order that, in just the first two months of the current fiscal year that began in October, Border Patrol has apprehended more than 460,000 people trying to enter the country through the Southwest border.
The governor’s order comes one day after the United States announced a new immigration plan for undocumented immigrants who enter the country through the land border.
President Joe Biden assured this Thursday that Mexico has agreed to admit 30,000 immigrants a month from Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua and Haiti who are expelled from US territory for crossing the border irregularly.
“My message is this: If you are trying to leave Cuba, Nicaragua or Haiti, do not show up at the border. Stay where you are and apply legally,” Biden said.
Nevertheless, The announcement does not detail the situation of Cubans and Haitians who arrive by sea in precarious boatsand which, according to Florida Senator Marco Rubio, have overwhelmed the resources of the state.
In a letter, Senator Rubio requested this Thursday support from the federal government in the face of the massive arrival of immigrants to South Florida, especially along the coasts of the Keys of this state, which in the last three days has exceeded a thousand undocumented.
Nearly a hundred Cuban migrants arrived in the Florida Keys in just 24 hours in rustic boatsthus increasing the number of the massive arrival of undocumented immigrants in this territory, the Border Patrol reported this Friday.
To these immigrants are added some 606 more who have been intercepted at sea by the immigration authorities, according to figures released by the Homeland Security Task Force Southeast (HSTF-SE).
On the other hand, the arrival of 364 immigrants last weekend at the Dry Tortugas National Park forced its temporary closure in the middle of the holiday season in order to facilitate the rescue efforts of these people stranded on the islets.
The immigrants, mostly Cubans and Haitians, have arrived in multiple and precarious boats to various islands in the Florida Keys archipelago, in Monroe County, in the southern tip of the United States.
So far this fiscal year 2023, that is, since last October 1, The Coast Guard has intercepted 3,839 Cubans at sea, a significant escalation in apprehensions compared to 838 intercepted in the entire fiscal year of 2021 and 6,182 in 2022.