South Florida relatives of migrants fear for their loved ones

MIAMI – Dozens of migrants who came to the U.S. on rustic vessels thorough the Florida Keys are being released at a U.S. Border Patrol processing center in Dania Beach.

“It was fine… the voyage was fine,” said a Haitian young man who was ambushed by media cameras. 

At the same time, relatives of many Cuban men and women who left the communist island on a raft over the New Year’s weekend have not heard from their loved ones and they are showing up to the federal facility. 

Some got the news they wanted, “My stepmother is here, she’s here,” said Kenise Escalona overexcited, after a Border Patrol officer read the names of some of the more than 200 Cubans being processed at the Dania Beach facility.

On Thursday night, seven buses coming from the Florida Keys transported to the Dania Beach processing center dozens of migrants who made it to the Florida Keys.

“I am worried about my wife,” said Jose Carlos Campos, whose wife left Cuba in a group of 17 migrants on a rustic raft. 

Campos told CBS4 he decided to come to the processing center after he claims having seen people who were on the raft on a picture in the Dry Tortugas. 

He was informed by officials at the U.S. Border Patrol office that his wife is not there. 

Many other Cubans are anguished, too. For the first time, they are hearing the Coast Guard may have picked them up at sea, which means they may end up repatriated.

Border Patrol officials are saying more migrants should be released over the weekend, “people are not retained here for more than 48 hours.”