WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — They leave their homes risking their lives, often leaving loved ones behind in the hopes of reuniting again one day. It is all done for an opportunity and a new beginning.
But the dangerous decision by migrants to take to the seas, playing out off of Florida's coast, can have deadly consequences.
Contact 5 spent time flying in the Florida Straits with the United States Coast Guard.
"We're just out here looking for anybody that may be trying to cross the ocean," Coast Guard pilot Joshua Mitcheltree said.
WPTV also flew with the Florida National Guard after Gov. Ron DeSantis activated them amid an influx of Cuban and Haitian migrants.
"When you find something that's made out of makeshift floats and lots of tarps with a lot more people on it, then it's pretty clear that's the boat we're looking for," Lt. David Blelloch said.
Despite more than 8,000 interdictions since Oct. 1, 2022, not every boat and raft is detected.
"I'm a father of three kids, and it really tugs at me when I see little ones in parents' arms coming over on these rafts that are not seaworthy," Coast Guard pilot John Benedict said.
"It just seems like pure desperation trying to make it somewhere better than where they're coming from," Mitcheltree said.
With the help of an interpreter, Ismel, 29, told Contact 5 that he left Cuba last July on a homemade boat.
"In Cuba, you can't find food anymore. You can't find a job," he told WPTV. "It's a big risk you have to take because, in the sea, you don't know."
Ismel also left behind his wife and 5-year-old son. He explained why he made that difficult decision.
"In this situation, a woman, and a child, it's very difficult, so many things have happened before," he said. "I was scared."
After 24 hours on the high seas, Ismel told Contact 5 that he landed undetected in the Florida Keys.
"When I saw the land, I saw the skies open and the only thing I thought is, 'I achieved what I wanted, I reached my dream. I made it here,'" he said. "I asked someone for their phone. I had my sister's number, and I called her so she could pick me up."
Dr. Raul Gonzalez, the managing director of Integrum Medical Group in Miami, provides medical and social services to people like Ismel.
"Every day we have more than 50 to 100 people coming to the doors," he said. "Ninety percent of the people that knock on the door are coming from Cuba, and you see that they need to be desperate to do what they're doing."
But not every journey ends like Ismel's.
The International Organization for Migration reports 256 people, more than half from Cuba, died or disappeared last year trying to reach the mainland United States from the Caribbean. That's a nearly 300% increase from the year before.
The United States Coast Guard reported 65 deaths related to illegal migration last fiscal year, up from just five the year prior.
"It's really those missing, missing numbers that are the hardest part of this work," Julia Black, who works on the Missing Migrants Project, told WPTV. "There's no search and rescue. There's no boat ever recovered. There's no remains ever recovered. The family simply never hears from them again. These are absolutely the cases (that) break your heart every single time."
A cellphone is now Ismel's only connection to his wife and 5-year-old son back in Cuba as he seeks asylum and hopes to start a new life in America.
"I came here to this country to work and to better my situation, my family's situation and be with my family here for the future, working and making a new complete life here in this country," Ismel said.
