Senator Rick Scott visits Florida Keys to evaluate efforts against maritime migration

Republican senator Rick Scott visited the Florida Keys this Thursday to evaluate efforts against maritime migration.

The former governor of Florida, in a meeting with local officials to discuss the current immigration crisis in the Keys, criticized the Biden administration's immigration and border policies and directly blamed the White House for the increase in illegal landings, which is affecting local resources and transferring the costs of a federal problem to local taxpayers, as revealed in a note from Local 10 News.

At the press conference held by Scott this Thursday in the Keys - which has witnessed an escalation of immigrant landings, mainly from Cuba and Haiti - the Republican stated that what must be done is to help and defend the people of Cuba.

"They removed the sanctions, well, what we have to do is defend the people of Cuba. And we have to say, 'look, if you want to have a better life, okay, if you want to have a relationship [with] the United States, then you have "We have to have free and fair elections, we have to let these political prisoners out," Scott said.

Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay welcomed the state and federal help that has come to the Keys to stem the migrant rush, but questioned whether it is sustainable.

"We probably have between 100 and 250 additional recruits on the ground, manpower allocation in various land, sea and air assets (...) Sustainability is the problem we have if we can mitigate this and we don't need it, if not , again, at the end of 60 days. Where are we?" he said.

Some critics have also said that the Cuban Adjustment Act appears to encourage dangerous emigration across the Straits of Florida, the note said.

The Secretary of Homeland Security of the United States, Alejandro Mayorkas, reiterated that the Cuban rafters Those who reach the coasts of Florida will not be able to benefit from humanitarian parole and will be repatriated to Cuba.

In his statement he warned that there is a greater presence of security forces on the coasts of Florida and that all rafters who try to enter illegally will be intercepted and repatriated, as stipulated in international laws and treaties signed by the United States.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis The National Guard was activated at the beginning of this year to confront the growing flow of Cuban rafters and Haitian immigrants to the south of the state, and described President Joe Biden's immigration policy as a "failure."

Behind the disembarkation of more than 5,000 rafters in the keys, At the dawn of 2023, mostly Cubans and Haitians, the US authorities reinforced the operation implemented to stop the huge wave of migrants on the coasts of Florida.