The Florida Keys’ Dry Tortugas National Park plans to shut down due to a sudden influx of hundreds of migrants.
The park estimates that the closure will last for several days. The migrants, mostly from Cuba, arrived on ships across two days.
The park will “temporarily close to public access while law enforcement and medical personnel evaluate, provide care for and coordinate transport to Key West for approximately 300 migrants who arrived in the park over the past couple of days,” a statement from the park read, obtained by ABC News.
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“Like elsewhere in the Florida Keys, the park has recently seen an increase in people arriving by boat from Cuba and landing on the islands of Dry Tortugas National Park. Park first responders provide food, water and basic medical attention until the Department of Homeland Security arrives and takes the lead,” it added.
The Coast Guard similarly acknowledged the landings, and said it was coordinating efforts to recover migrants stranded on the uninhabited islands of the park
“Homeland Security Task Force – Southeast is aware of multiple migrant landings this weekend on Dry Tortugas National Park and the Marquesas. The U.S. Coast Guard and partner federal, state and local components in HSTF-SE are coordinating efforts to recover the individuals currently stranded on the remote, uninhabited islands,” Coast Guard Rear Adm. Brendan C. McPherson told the outlet.
McPherson went on to say that the migrants would be escorted to border patrol facilities to be processed. He also noted the dangerous nature of migrating by sea, saying, “Irregular, illegal maritime migration is always dangerous and very often deadly. Do not take to the seas.”
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The migrant surge at the Florida Keys is part of a historic migration crisis, seeing astronomical numbers of illegal immigrants cross the border. While most come across the United States-Mexico border, others come by sea, as seen by the hundreds of migrants now stranded in the Florida Keys.
