A group of Cuban rafters who climbed atop the American Shoal Lighthouse near Key West Friday have come down, U.S. Coast Guard officials said.
A group of 19 rafters climbed on the lighthouse about eight miles from shore near Saddlebunch Key around 9 a.m., officials said. A Good Samaritan had spotted the group and alerted authorities.
Another two rafters stayed in the group's vessel.
The group spent several hours on the lighthouse while Coast Guard officials negotiated with them to come down. They finally came down from the lighthouse shortly after 5 p.m.
The Coast Guard said the group is safe and in good health. They received medical attention and food, but they will not be released to family members yet. They are in federal custody.
Officials said they have not determined whether the lighthouse is on U.S. territory. They said it's too soon to determine whether this applies to the "wet-foot, dry-foot" policy, which allows Cuban migrants who reach dry American land to stay in the country. A decision is expected over the next several days.
Ten years ago, U.S. authorities sent home 15 Cubans who landed on an abandoned Keys bridge because they said it did not constitute land. A federal judge later ruled that decision was illegal. Some of the group eventually made it to land in the Keys on another attempt.
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Cuban exile activist Ramon Saul Sanchez was part of the push to make those Cubans in 2006 stay and participated in a hunger strike.
"There was a precedent sent in the bridge case that the bridge was part of the United States and I think this lighthouse is part of the United States," Sanchez said.
The 109-foot historic lighthouse, sitting in about 10 feet of water, is about 20 miles from Key West and is a popular dive site. Officials said the migrants swam from their homemade vessel to the lighthouse when they saw the Coast Guard approaching.
Agents with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and Customs and Border Protection were assisting.
