There has been a big problem with Cubans paying smugglers to bring their family members to Florida. In one case last year a person died when smugglers refused to listen to the Coast Guard and stop.

http://cbs4.com/topstories/local_story_009152438.html

Jan 9, 2007 3:22 pm US/Eastern

Opa-Locka Man Pleads Guilty To Cuban Smuggling
(AP) FT. MYERS A 36-year-old Opa-locka man pleaded guilty to federal charges he helped smuggle 20 Cuban migrants into the country last summer.

Noel Lopez pleaded guilty Monday to bringing the migrants from Cuba on a boat and dropping them off on Marco Island in August, according to court records. Co-defendant Juan Gonzalez-Hernandez of Miami pleaded guilty to smuggling charges in November, court records show.

Lopez had been fighting the charges. His jury trial ended in a mistrial last month. Lopez' attorney, Joaquin Perez of Miami, declined to say why his client changed his plea.

Lopez and Gonzalez-Hernandez are scheduled to be sentenced in March