December 25, 1999
Web posted at: 2:36 p.m. EST (1936 GMT)

ISLAMORADA, Florida (CNN) -- Twelve Cuban migrants came ashore Friday night in the upper Florida Keys near Islamorada and were taken into custody, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Cubans arrived about 45 miles south of Miami, but authorities do not know how they got to Florida.

"We're not sure how they arrived," Coast Guard Petty Officer Chet Darby told CNN."We searched the waters and the land nearby, but found nothing."

A U.S. Border Patrol official told CNN that six men, three women, two girls and a boy were taken to the Border Patrol station in Pembroke Pines, Florida.

They were to be transferred to the Krome Detention Center in Miami for processing by the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service.