Border Patrol chief says migrant encounters in South Florida were up 400% in 2022

South Florida experienced a 400% increase in migrant encounters in fiscal year 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, according to border officials.

Border Patrol Chief Raul Ortiz said in a Wednesday tweet that “In the past five days, interagency efforts in the Miami Sector led to discovering 26 smuggling events, totaling nearly 600 migrants. Since October 1, 2022, Miami Sector has seen a 400% increase in migrant encounters over the same time period last year.”

He added in a previous tweet that Border Patrol Agents “have performed 2,260 search and rescue efforts along the southwest border” in only two months, from Oct. 1 through Nov. 31.

This comes as Florida has seen a significant influx of migrant arriving by boat from Cuba and other nearby countries.

The overwhelming number of arrivals led officials to close off Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys last Monday after hundreds of migrants landed there.

“Homeland Security Task Force – Southeast is aware of multiple migrant landings this weekend on Dry Tortugas National Park and the Marquesas. The U.S. Coast Guard and partner federal, state and local components in HSTF-SE are coordinating efforts to recover the individuals currently stranded on the remote, uninhabited islands,” said Rear Adm. Brendan C. McPherson, commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District and director of Homeland Security Task Force.