The Florida Keys tourist paradise is besieged by immigration agents: We've never seen anything like this'

"The only highway connecting the Florida Keys, a global tourist destination, to the rest of the United States has become a trap. Authorities have launched a large-scale immigration crackdown on the A1A Overseas Highway, which carries some three million travelers annually and connects the chain of islands stretching nearly 200 kilometers over the Florida Barrier Reef from Key Largo, south of Miami, to Key West, with checkpoints and roadblocks."

"In Key West, the southernmost city in the country, a wave of arrests in recent months has sparked alarm in the community and terrified migrant families. The idyllic Key West, just 4.2 square miles in size, receives more than a million tourists a year, drawn by its bohemian and relaxed atmosphere that inspired writers like Ernest Hemingway and Tennessee Williams, and which singer Jimmy Buffett described as an eccentric melting pot of fishermen, hippies and smugglers."

The only highway linking the Florida Keys to the mainland now features checkpoints, roadblocks and frequent traffic stops as part of a large-scale immigration crackdown. Agents are checking license plates and detaining people with outstanding immigration cases. Key West has seen a recent wave of arrests that has terrified migrant families and created widespread tension among its 27,000 residents, one-fifth of whom are migrants. Local activists documented more than 300 arrests since June, are assisting affected families, and are tracking immigration authorities' movements in real time. The single road in and out makes the islands effectively a migrant trap.

Read at english.elpais.com