In the complex world of dense geopolitical analysis, this is what the experts call a sign that your country has a serious freaking problem with illegal immigration and needs to fix it immediately:
The U.S. National Park Service has closed Dry Tortugas National Park in the Florida Keys after hundreds of migrants arrived on the islands over the New Year's weekend.
The NPS temporarily closed the park to public access on Monday morning after an estimated 300 migrants landed in the park, according to a news release. It said the park has seen an increase in people arriving by boat from Cuba.
"The closure, which is expected to last several days, is necessary for the safety of visitors and staff because of the resources and space needed to attend to the migrants," the NPS said.
One Twitter user claims to have witnessed the beginning of the immigrants' arrival:
Look, on the one hand you get it: These people arrive from Cuba, probably exhausted, with no water or food, probably in boats that are leaky and about to sink. You can't just turn these people away. That could be sending many of them to their deaths.
At the same time, the only reason so many people are coming here illegally and dangerously is because we've signaled to them that it's a safe bet for them to do so — that they'll gain entrance to the country illegally with little to no consequences.
So maybe we could, I don't know, strike a balance between helping people in need and not incentivizing illegal behavior in the first place?
It's what local authorities are clamoring for, after all:
More than 160 refugees had landed mostly in the Middle and Upper Keys in addition to the 300 people in the Dry Tortugas, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said in a statement on Monday. Sheriff Rick Ramsay called it a "humanitarian crisis" created by "federal failure."
"This shows a lack of a working plan by the federal government to deal with a mass migration issue that was foreseeable," Ramsay said.
"Lack of a working plan" sums up this entire administration, especially with nearly 3 million border crossings last year.
