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(NewsNation) — As the Trump administration clamps down on migrant crossings, the U.S. Coast Guard has been working around the clock to secure America’s so-called “third border”: the ocean off the coast of Florida.
Coast Guard officers keep a close guard by flying over the coast south toward Cuba and over the Bahamas, which is a hotbed for migrant activity.
On these patrols, “mission system operators” utilize screens in the back of the plane to tell pilots in which direction to fly based on migrant sightings.
“We are looking for a number of different things. Vessels moving in a certain direction. If they are moving southbound, that may not be an indicator. If they are moving northbound, it might give us an indication we should probably take a look,” Coast Guard Lt. Bryce Monaco tells NewsNation.
“There are also a lot of people, 20 to 30, maybe even hundreds of people. These are all indicators of what we are looking at.”
When officers spot migrants, they dispatch Coast Guard cutters to intervene.
The Coast Guard interdicted several migrants attempting to use the Florida coast as an inroad into the country. This includes 31 migrants packed onto a small fishing boat and two dozen Chinese migrants hiding in an engine compartment, according to the agency.
While many migrants hail from nearby Cuba and Haiti, there is also a large number that come from as far as China, Coast Guard officers told NewsNation.
“Well, we have had an 8000% increase in the number of Chinese migrants caught on the Florida coast,” Republican Florida Rep. Carlos Gimenez said. “That is just going to increase because as enforcement becomes harder and tougher to get into the southern border, you are going to see more and more Chinese and other migrants trying to flow into Florida.”
However, migrant ocean crossings are not just on the East Coast of the United States. The Coast Guard also spotted 20 migrants on a small boat 21 miles off the coast of California.
“We advise anyone that may think they want to enter the U.S. illegally. Not only are these venues illegal, but they are quite dangerous … and please do not trust these transnational organizations. These smugglers do not care about you,” Eric Rodriguez with the Coast Guard said.