Landing on sandbar a break for migrants

Posted on Wed, Feb. 08, 2006

IMMIGRATION
Landing on sandbar a break for migrants
Fifteen Cubans made it to shore in the Keys after a Coast Guard chase.
BY LUISA YANEZ AND OSCAR CORRAL
lyanez@MiamiHerald.com

In the latest Cuban migration drama, a ''go-fast'' boat trying to outrun
U.S. authorities Tuesday slammed into a sandbar in the Florida Keys
before migrants jumped onto dry land.

The boat carried 14 Cuban migrants -- 10 men, three women and one
17-year-old girl -- according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection
spokeswoman Jennifer Connors. The boat stopped north of Marathon at Duck
Key near mile marker 64.

The group made it to dry land, practically guaranteeing they will
qualify for U.S. residency. They were taken into custody by U.S. Customs
and Border Protection agents.

Two men, who took cover in the mangroves in an attempt to evade
authorities, were taken into custody separately. Agency spokesman
Zachary Mann said the two men, a Cuban national and a Georgia native,
are suspected smugglers.

Mann did not release their names.

The drama began around 6:30 a.m. Tuesday off the Florida Keys after a
Customs and Border Patrol jet spotted a boat traveling toward the Keys
loaded with people, Mann said. About three hours later, another aircraft
and two boats -- one from the Coast Guard, one from Customs and Border
Patrol -- initiated a chase.

''The boat rammed and beached itself on a sandbar, and local authorities
were called in to help,'' said Coast Guard Petty Officer James Judge.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Office said it was alerted and asked for help.

''We got a call from the Coast Guard that they were trying to intercept
a boat and to go to Grassy Key,'' said Becky Herron, spokeswoman for the
Monroe sheriff.

The Cubans were taken for processing to Pembroke Pines, Mann said.

One of the suspected smugglers was taken into custody in the early
afternoon after trying to hide, Mann said. Another man was flushed out
of the dense mangroves by Monroe County bloodhounds and taken into
custody at about 5 p.m., Mann said.

Under the U.S. wet-foot, dry-foot policy, Cubans who make it to land are
generally allowed to remain in the United States���
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