The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday returned to Haiti almost 100 people who were stopped offshore of the island country in an overloaded migrant boat last week, the agency said. The 99 people were intercepted Thursday about 35 miles north of Cap-Hatien, Haiti, packed into a 35-foot boat that was heading north toward the Turks and Caicos, the Coast Guard said in a statement. They were returned to their home country Tuesday aboard the Cutter Seneca, the agency said. “The Coast Guard remains steadfast in our defense of the U.S. maritime borders and approaches with patrols in the Florida Straits, Windward and Mona Passages to interdict unlawful maritime migration attempts before they reach our shores,” Lt. Cmdr. Brent Pearson, Coast Guard liaison officer to U.S. Embassy Port-au-Prince, said in a statement. “Attempting illegal migration in overloaded, unsafe vessels with no safety equipment is extremely dangerous and puts you and your loved one’s lives at risk. Don’t take to the sea just to be sent back.”
Since October, the Coast Guard said it has intercepted 412 people from Haiti attempting to leave the country by sea. From Oct. 1, 2024 to Sept. 31, U.S. authorities repatriated 857 people stopped at sea, according to the Coast Guard.
Read more at: https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article303273646.html#storylink=cpy
