EXPLAINER: Who uses Florida-Caribbean smuggling routes?

By ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON
Associated Press

MIAMI (AP) — Little is known about the 40 people believed to have been aboard a boat that capsized and was found this week near the Florida coast with just one survivor. But the travelers were on a route often used by migrants trying to enter the country clandestinely, and authorities suspect the trip was organized by smugglers. Apprehensions of migrants in the Florida-Caribbean region appear to be on pace to surpass numbers from last year, with more Cubans and Haitians taking to sea despite the dangers and stricter U.S. refugee policies. Both the Coast Guard and Homeland Security are treating this as a human smuggling case.