SCOTT ADDRESSES KEYS MIGRANT CRISIS KEYS LEGISLATORS SEEK ANNUAL $20 MILLION FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PROJECTS

Environmental Protection, and then sent to local municipalities to use for projects including stormwater and canal restoration.

The Senate’s Environment and Natural Resources Committee passed the bill on Jan. 17 via a 9-0 vote. Rodriguez, who serves as committee chair, said the bill’s passage through the first committee is “groundbreaking.” But Rodriguez said the bill has a long road to become law.

ALEX RICKERT alex@keysweekly.com

Amid an explosion in migrant landings in the Florida Keys to begin the new year, Marathon received a visit from U.S. Sen. Rick Scott on Jan. 19 for a press conference regarding the ongoing border security crises affecting South Florida communities.

Scott’s appearance at the Marathon airport was preceded by a briefing from U.S. Coast Guard Rear Admiral Brendan McPherson, Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay and Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) Air and Marine Operations regarding the current situation and local response to the extreme migrant influx in recent weeks. The senator’s visit also included a boat tour earlier in the day to view dozens of migrant vessels dotting the Keys’ shorelines.

“The Biden administration has got to be clear that we’re going to enforce our immigration laws, we’re going to enforce our asylum laws, we’re going to secure our borders,” Scott told reporters.

“What I heard and saw during my briefing and tour … makes me furious and is absolutely heartbreaking. Our brave law enforcement officers … are doing everything they can to keep our communities safe, but this administration has completely abandoned them.”

Scott’s conference joined a chorus of requests from local, state and federal leaders for a stronger response to the record landings. In the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2022, Coast Guard crews interdicted a record 6,182 Cuban migrants before reaching shore. They are already on pace to smash that record in less than six months, with 4,881 migrants interdicted from Oct. 1, 2022 to Jan. 4.

On Jan. 6, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a 60-day state of emergency and signed Executive Order 23-03, activating the Florida National Guard and other agencies to provide resources in support of local governments responding to the migrant spike.

Scott’s press conference comes on the heels of an influx of equipment and personnel in recent weeks from multiple military and law enforcement agencies, including the U.S. Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection, FWC Law Enforcement, Florida Highway Patrol, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the Florida National Guard.

On Jan. 5, President Joe Biden announced a new U.S. policy that will accept 30,000 migrants per month from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela. The program is a pivot away from previous policies that would allow migrants who reached land to stay in the country as they waited for asylum hearings – a wait currently averaging 4.3 years, as reported by CNN on Dec. 26.

As of the same date, nearly 1.6 million asylum applications were currently pending – the largest number ever on record, according to an analysis of federal data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

“Do not just show up at the border. Stay where you are and apply legally from there,” Biden said. “Starting today, if you don’t apply through the legal process you will not be eligible for this new parole program.”

“We want to send a message out to these third-world countries about the changes in the policy now, which no longer allows you to come here and be released,” Ramsay said in the press conference. “You’re going to be put in secure detention until you’re sent back to your home country. We want those people to know that before they try to come here, so they can make that decision whether it’s worthwhile.”

Legislators in the Florida House and Senate are beginning to file funding requests and proposed policy changes as a 60-day session in Tallahassee starts March 7. Committees are gathering to consider bills, including one proposal recently filed by Rep. Jim Mooney and state Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez to obtain millions in annual funding for a key Florida Keys program.

Legislation sponsored by Mooney and Rodriguez, House Bill 135 and Senate Bill 54, requests $20 million annually for the Florida Keys Stewardship Act that funds nearshore water projects and acquisition of environmentallysensitive land. Funds would be issued to the state Department of

“As the bill sponsor, I could not be happier and I will continue to work tirelessly to get this legislation over the finish line,” she said.

Stewardship Act funding fluctuated year-to-year since its passage in 2016. Legislators representing the Keys, going back to former state Rep. Holly Raschein and former state Sen. Anitere Flores, fought each session to secure as much money as possible in the budget.

In the first year, $5 million was allocated for water projects and land acquisition. A year later, the legislature approved $13.3 million. Stewardship Act funds totaled $10 million in 2018 and $11 million in 2019.

Financial losses from the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 resulted in Gov. Ron DeSantis cutting $1 billion for programs, including $10 million from the Stewardship Act. By 2021, full funding was granted for the program, with $20 million for water quality projects and $5 million for land acquisition.

“The main goal is just get it out of the begging mode every year,” Mooney said regarding the latest proposal.

Full funding for the Stewardship Act sits atop the legislative priorities for Monroe County in the upcoming session. Funds awarded to Keys municipalities can’t be used for wastewater projects, according to the proposal. Legislation was referred to the House and Senate’s Agriculture & Natural Resources Appropriations committees.

The bill would need to pass through the House and Senate before the governor considers signing it into law.