Irregular immigration | The Florida archipelago at the heart of the wave

Florida has been officially on “state of alert” since January 16, grappling with the arrival of thousands of migrants from Cuba and Haiti aboard makeshift boats at the risk of their lives. The authorities are overwhelmed. But are the means deployed the right ones to curb the crisis?

(Marathon, Florida) “Incredible that they did 180 km at sea on this”

Dave Henfield saw them running away from the parking lot. They must have been five or six. On the fine sands of Coco Plumb beach in Marathon, in the middle of the Keys, they had abandoned their ship. Or rather, the few styrofoam plates tied together on which they had placed a wooden plank to support the engine.

“It’s unbelievable that they went 180 km at sea on this,” the retired industrial plumber said to himself. “Maybe they threw the engine away and rowed the last few miles because it wasn’t there, but they left Coke bottles full of gas. »

Far from unique, this scene is now repeated every day in the Keys, at the southeastern tip of Florida. As soon as the hurricane season ended in November, the arrivals of migrants by boat started again with renewed vigor, reaching a level rarely seen during the holiday season.

The current “wave” peaked on 1^er last January when local authorities had to urgently close the Dry Tortugas National Park, when 300 Cuban nationals landed on this islet without drinking water.

A dazzling increase

“We are seeing an increase in the number of attempts at irregular immigration by sea, especially in the last six months,” confirms John Beal, spokesperson for the 7^e U.S. Coast Guard District, from the organization’s command post in downtown Miami.

An increase has also been observed on land, where the US Border Patrol is responsible for irregular migrants who have set foot on American soil, confirms Adam Hoffner, spokesperson for the organization for the Florida sector.

Since October, the agency has responded to 245 migrant landings in the Keys, a 350% increase from the same period last year.

No less than 4,500 people were then arrested, a meteoric rise of 500% for the first four months of the financial year 2022.

The challenge of intercepting these ships is daunting in the Keys, a succession of islets that stretches over more than 200 kilometers with, at its center, a single main road.

Faced with this increase in arrivals, Florida Governor Ron De Santis declared a state of emergency in Florida on January 16. More National Guard personnel, more planes and ships were assigned to the area.

The federal government’s response over the past six months marks the largest deployment of ships and aircraft to the region since 2010, the US Coast Guard website reads.

A most dangerous crossing

“When you spot them, sometimes it looks like there are 20 or 30 people on board, but as you get closer, more and more come out of the hold. They are often more than 200 or 300 on these ships,” describes officer John Beal.

Most often, these migrants are dehydrated after days spent at sea, but sometimes also victims of chemical burns caused by the gasoline they often handle in small plastic containers.

While Haitians most often embark on large ships where they can be several hundred, migrants from Cuba pilot smaller boats. “We think they are more watched by the Cuban government who try to prevent them from going to sea, hence their limited ability to build large boats,” explains John Beal.

It is this kind of crossing, particularly dangerous for its participants, that the American authorities are trying to dissuade.

On the ships, migrants receive first aid; they are mostly dehydrated. Then, they are questioned to determine if they have a real reason to claim asylum in the United States, a test which the vast majority of them fail, specifies the officer.

Migrants intercepted at sea are directly repatriated to their country, or handed over to local authorities in partner countries, says John Beal. In the case of the overloaded ship on January 21, its 390 stowaways were handed over to the Bahamian government.

D’autres, interceptés plus près des côtes, sont parfois détenus dans les installations de la US Border Patrol, en Floride, où ils vont rejoindre leurs compatriotes capturés après avoir réussi à poser le pied à terre.

La fin de « wet feet, dry feet »

Car depuis que l’administration Obama a mis fin à la politique « Pieds secs, pieds mouillés » (wet feet, dry feet), en janvier 2017, tous les migrants irréguliers, qu’ils aient posé le pied sur le sol américain ou non, sont expulsés, en théorie. Auparavant, ceux qui réussissaient à rejoindre le continent pouvaient bénéficier d’une voie de passage afin de régulariser leur statut.

« Les Cubains et les Haïtiens qui prennent la mer et débarquent sur le sol américain ne pourront pas bénéficier de la procédure de libération conditionnelle et seront soumis à une procédure d’expulsion », a toutefois rappelé le secrétaire à la Sécurité intérieure des États-Unis, Alejandro Mayorkas, le 18 janvier, sur Twitter.

Début janvier, le président américain Joe Biden a annoncé un durcissement du traitement des migrants qui entrent de façon irrégulière aux États-Unis. En même temps, il a élargi un programme destiné à ceux qui souhaitent immigrer de façon régulière, toujours dans l’espoir de les dissuader d’entreprendre de dangereux périples.

Son administration espère ainsi diminuer le nombre d’arrivées à la frontière avec le Mexique, où se concentre le gros du flux migratoire.

Les situations économique et politique très difficiles, à Cuba et Haïti, laissent penser que l’exode vers les États-Unis et les Keys ne faiblira pas de sitôt.

En attendant, le bilan continue de s’alourdir. Au moins 321 morts de migrants ont été répertoriées dans les Caraïbes en 2022, un bond important par rapport aux 180 morts enregistrées dans le secteur l’année précédente, révèle un rapport de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations paru à la fin de janvier.

Une crise, vraiment ?

Leur région est en état d’alerte et pourtant, les résidants des Keys semblent écouler des jours paisibles, au sec, bien loin des drames qui se jouent en mer à des milles nautiques de là.

Une trentaine de touristes font la queue pour faire un égoportrait à côté d’une grosse borne en pierre, le point le plus au sud-est des États-Unis. Les vagues lèchent dangereusement les pavés.

On se presse dans les rues de Key West pour profiter des derniers rayons de soleil et de l’agréable chaleur floridienne de janvier.

« Les gens sont ici pour en apprendre davantage sur l’histoire de Key West. Les débarquements ? On ne m’en parle pas tellement », confirme Rob Derouse, les pieds sur le volant de son tuk-tuk.

Les endroits où ont eu lieu les plus récents débarquements sont « sur les plages par là-bas et sur les plages par là-bas », lance le guide en pointant dans toutes les directions.

En effet, il serait exagéré de parler d’une crise, assure la mairesse de Key West, Teri Johnston. « C’est la même chose pour chaque ouragan : les gens appellent ici et pensent que nous sommes dévastés ! Mais non, il n’y a rien de plus que des chaises de patio qui sont parties au vent », lance-t-elle.

Depuis les années 1970, l’archipel des Keys connaît des vagues migratoires, particulièrement à partir de Cuba, mais la situation a nettement empiré depuis les troubles récents dans le pays insulaire et son voisin, Haïti, confirme Teri Johnston.

Teri Johnston recognizes that some landings can be “shocking” for residents of the archipelago, like this time when about thirty Cuban migrants found themselves in the swimming pool of a resident of Marathon. “But it only lasted an hour or two, then it was all over,” she says.

On January 4, the arrival of a boat carrying 15 Cuban migrants in Marathon, however, led to the confinement of two schools, while the authorities ensure that others are not hidden in the surrounding mangrove forests.

Terrible conditions

Indeed, the local authorities have been overwhelmed, recognizes the mayor. Following the landing at Dry Tortugas, Rick Ramsay, sheriff of Monroe County, which encompasses the Keys south to Miami, called the situation a “crisis.”

“It is a crisis in the humanitarian sense, which the whole world must take care of, recognizes Teri Johnston. We must first settle what is happening in their countries. »

The fate of migrants who are automatically detained and then sent back to their country after being intercepted seems to worry her, however.

“I would welcome a bipartisan policy at the federal level that would allow a number of these migrants who entered the United States to obtain citizenship at some point,” she adds.

Of the ” chugs » to move

Another issue is that of the boats left on the coasts by migrants – craft locally called chugs “. Right now, the different levels of government are passing the buck over who is responsible for their collection.

Unless they leak gas or other chemical materials, several weeks can pass before they are picked up, much to the displeasure of local tourists.

When passing from The Pressabout twenty of these makeshift boats were stored at the Coast Guard base in Key West, a few meters from the RVs of the personnel who live there.

A few steps away, Mark Mariano and his wife Lynda Bivels enjoy the clear water during a break from their bike ride. “There are a lot of neighbors who don’t like their presence too much, especially when they leave trash in the mangroves,” explains the Key West resident.

“We encourage them”

The general feeling in the Keys is one of empathy, Key West Mayor Teri Johnston says from the air-conditioned offices of City Hall: “How terrible their conditions in their countries must be to the point of having to risking his life to leave. »

In the meantime, the fate of migrants captured at sea does not seem to affect Keys residents too much, for whom life goes on.

At the Sunset Grille & Raw Bar on the western tip of Marathon, patrons usually cheer when they witness a docking, confirms a waitress, Rashira. “We encourage them, we shout, it’s such a moment of relief for them to have arrived here. »

Some tourists even seem to be unaware of the presence of these migrants at sea, like this group of friends from Wisconsin who rented a villa at the end of street 79, in Marathon.

On August 8, 109 Haitian migrants jumped from their beached ship a few dozen meters from the coast to swim there. The carcass of the ship is still clearly visible in the distance.

“Precisely, we were wondering what it was,” exclaims a member of the group, questioned about the presence of the wreckage.