Image via CNN:A group of Cuban migrants made it onto a platform 40 feet above the water at the American Shoal Lighthouse.
Twenty-one Cuban migrants’ quest for asylum in the United States may be decided by checking their feet. If their feet are in water, they will be denied asylum. If their feet are on dry land, they will be awarded asylum. Under the “wet foot, dry foot” policy Cubans who reach U.S. shores win the right to stay in the country. Cuban migrants intercepted at sea are sent back to their country.
The American Shoal lighthouse is nearly 7 miles from Sugarloaf Key and is considered U.S. property. Former Miami U.S. attorney Kendal Coffey argues, “This is a federal building, on federal land, in federal territory. We believe that they are entitled to not being repatriated.”
The migrants in this case swam to the steps of a 136-year-old lighthouse in shallow water off of the Florida Keys when their raft sank on May 20th. They were placed onto a Coast Guard cutter after spending 8 hours on the lighthouse steps and negotiating with the Coast Guard.
The lighthouse was in use from 1880 until 2015. It has an eight-room living area, and a keeper and workers once lived there. The lighthouse was built on a reef and became federal property in the 1870s after the state of Florida deeded the property to the U.S. government.
A similar migrant case occurred in 2006, when a group of Cubans landed on an abandoned bridge. Recent improvements in the relationship between Cuba and the U.S. may have some impact upon this and other repatriation decisions. Fearing a repeal of the Cuban Adjustment Act, the flow of Cuban migrants to the U.S. has increased. They’re concerned that improved diplomatic relations between the countries will eliminate the right of automatic asylum upon reaching dry land.
Coffey argues that this is a human rights case. Representing the family of Elián González in 2000, he spoke out for the rights of the Cuban boy who was the subject of an international custody battle after being found in the Florida Straits.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Dexter Lee is supporting the Coast Guard’s decision that the lighthouse is not dry land, since the water in that area is four feet deep at low tide. “Just because the government owns a lighthouse does not mean it is dry land. It is surrounded by water. It is built on submerged land. It is not dry land,” he said.
The Cuban migrants continue to wait for a decision, unsure if the tide of justice will carry them to freedom or send them home to an unknown fate and possible punishment.