Ranger Thomas Rutledge responded to a report of Cuban migrants on Sands Key early on the morning of Friday, May 18th. Rutledge found a group of 15 Cubans on the island – men and women, but no children. When Coast Guard and Miami-Dade PD vessels arrived, the Cubans were taken to the Black Point marina, where they waited for the Border Patrol to pick them up. Under the U.S. “wet foot, dry foot” policy, they were paroled into the country until they could apply for green cards (under the terms of this policy, anyone caught on waters between Cuba and the U.S. is sent home or to a third country, whereas anyone who makes it to shore gets a chance to remain in the country and later apply for permanent residence status and U.S. citizenship). It’s probable that the Cubans were smuggled into the U.S. On May 24th, 14 five-gallon and six-gallon gasoline containers were found hidden in evenly spaced locations along the eastern coast of Elliott Key. Resource management employees removed the containers, which were filled with fresh gasoline. Islands within the park have been used to store gas for smuggling operations for many years now.
