As the federal Title 42 expulsion policy for illegal aliens hangs in the balance, all eyes are on the chaos regularly unfolding on the porous US southern border. Meanwhile, this nation’s oceanic boundaries are being quietly overrun in greater numbers with each passing year.
The Center Square reported Dec. 24:
“Border Patrol agents in the Miami Sector have reported a 500% increase in apprehensions in fiscal year 2022.
“From Sept. 1, 2021, to Oct. 31, 2022, agents apprehended 2,350 foreign nationals attempting to illegally enter Florida by sea. The majority were Cubans.
“They also interdicted 131 maritime smuggling events, a 330% increase from fiscal 2021, Chief Patrol Agent Walter Slosar said.
The numbers continue to climb.”
Jumping the Border With a Splash
Slosar runs an informative Twitter feed that shows just how hard-pressed Florida border security agents have become as they monitor the beautiful turquoise waters surrounding the peninsula.
“During the past 24 hours, 175 migrants from Cuba were taken into U.S. Border Patrol custody,” a typical post, dated Dec. 22, read. “Agents with support from federal, state, and local [law enforcement] partners have responded to multiple migrant landings in Florida Keys and Hollywood Beach.” Unsurprisingly, Cubans and Haitians are the most common interlopers washing up on Florida shores. But they are not the only ones, as Slosar tweeted:
“Yesterday, [Border Patrol] partners interdicted a Sea-Doo jet boat near #Miami #Florida with 5 noncitizens from the Republic of Georgia onboard. The group originally departed from the #Bahamas. All 5 individuals were taken into custody & processed for removal proceedings.”
Question: If illegal aliens from the Caucasus Mountains can make it all the way to the Sunshine State, who can’t? A mental image of terrorists gently wafting onto a sun-kissed beach and calmly making their way into the interior of the United States only magnifies the grave national security threat posed by America’s inability to control its territorial integrity.
‘Going Through Backyards and Moving Around’
Boats reaching shore and depositing illegal aliens in broad daylight have become something of a norm in Florida of late. While reports of rickety, barely seaworthy vessels marked with Spanish writing being found at dawn abandoned on the state’s beaches were not unusual eight years ago, those arriving today are far more brazen.
In December 2021, cellphone video captured a boatload of illegals landing at a Jupiter beach filled with frolicking Americans enjoying an oceanside day. Locals described the jarring sight to NBC affiliate WPTV:
“Patrick Bradley said he saw a group of what he believed to be Haitians running off the boat.
“‘The captain put a mask on, got his phone out and called someone and then fled the scene,’ said Bradley.
“‘Kids, adults, guys in their underwear fleeing, dropping all their clothes and running towards the street,’ said Caitlin Kinirons.”
In June 2021, a boat filled with some 30 Haitians hit shore on tony Jupiter Island, home to some of the wealthiest residents in the state.
(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)
“All appearances are this was a trans-shipment from the Bahamas,” Martin County Sheriff William Snyder told Treasure Coast Newspapers. “They appear to be Haitian and the boat was a rather nice Boston Whaler,” Snyder said. Officers revealed how unfazed the Haitians were upon stepping on US soil. “Deputies reported that one migrant knocked on a resident’s door asking for water,” the paper wrote. Illegals “get on shore and they’re lost, they don’t know where they are,” Snyder continued. “They get here to Jupiter Island and they have no idea what they’re doing. They begin going through backyards and moving around. I look at it as a public safety challenge because … we don’t know who’s here.”
A former Homeland Security official offered an explanation for the expanded illegal alien operations at sea. “The perception among migrants and smugglers is that [President Joe] Biden has essentially loosened the rules,” Seth Stodder told The New York Times. “There is a desire to test this administration.”
The Times went on: “In addition to overloading migrants on small vessels with no life jackets, smugglers sometimes kidnap, extort or force migrants into prostitution,” [Anthony Salisbury, a special agent in Miami] said. “There has been a marked increase in maritime smuggling ventures in South Florida,” he stressed. “These criminal organizations have no regard for human life. They look at the migrants as package and payday.”
