Earlier today, a significant number of migrants, more than a hundred, found their way to Key West, arriving just off the coast near popular beachfront areas. Reporting from the scene Local 10 News confirmed that a sizeable sail freighter came ashore around 4 a.m., carrying the migrants to a landing just north of Higgs Beach. The migrants landed in the vicinity of the Key West Nature Preserve, said Petty Officer 3rd Class Nicholas Strasburg, of the U.S. Coast Guard.
In a dispatch obtained by the Miami Herald, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office disclosed the arrival time as approximately 3:40 a.m., with the vessel stopping about 100 yards off the 1800 Atlantic condominiums. The vessel carried a contingent of 117 individuals; 87 men and, 30 women, among which were children. A child and an adult were subsequently taken to Lower Keys Medical Center, both for non-life-threatening injuries.
According to U.S. Border Patrol and local law enforcement agencies, the migrants were immediately attended to upon their unheralded arrival. "U.S. Border Patrol as well as local law enforcement agencies are on scene now," Strasburg told Local 10 News in an email. The U.S. Border Patrol has taken the lead on the incident, and they are the agency from which further updates will be provided.
