More than 60 Cuban migrants arrived in the Florida Keys over the weekend, including 42 in Sugarloaf Key in Florida July 18,
according to the Miami Herald.
The group may include at least one 4-year-old child, according to dispatch conversations.
The Herald said that since all the migrants made it to dry land, they would be allowed to stay and, in one year, apply to be permanent residents. A policy change in 1995, called "wet-foot, dry-foot," allows Cubans who set foot on U.S. soil to stay, but if they are stopped at sea they must return to Cuba.
The Monroe County Sheriff's Office's Twitter account reported that the number of Sugarloaf Key arrivals was 42, and eight more arrived the next day.
Before the 42 arrived, three different groups arrived at different times over the weekend in Key Largo and Key Colony Beach. Two of the groups arrived in a "single-engine rustic vessel." One group of nine men said their journey from Cuba took six days.
About the group of 42 migrants, Battalion Chief Francisco Perez told the Herald, "I have never seen so many at once."
In June,
Fox News Latino reported that nearly 100 beachgoers witnessed nine men and one woman make it to shore in Hollywood, Florida.
The Herald reported that many Cubans are fleeing because they believe improved relations between Cuba and the United States could lead to the end of the wet-foot dry-foot policy.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.