MIAMI.- An “overloaded” boat carrying more than 300 Haitians was intercepted by the US Coast Guard before reaching the coasts of this country, reports the institution.
The Coast Guard posted on social media that the interception took place on Wednesday, without specifying where. He said it was an “80ft (24m), overloaded motor boat” trying to reach US shores “illegally”.
The group of intercepted Haitians was made up of men, women and children, he added.
This is at least the second recent massive attempt by Haitians trying to reach US shores by sea.
At the end of January, the Coast Guard intercepted a sailboat in Bahamian waters carrying more than 390 Haitians.
Video released at the time by the Coast Guard showed aerial footage of a precarious sailboat filled with immigrants, which was likely sailing towards the Florida coast, at the time of the interception.
The Haitians were picked up by a Coast Guard vessel and transferred to Bahamian authorities, presumably for repatriation.
If the sailboat had made landfall in the Florida Keys, in the far south of the state, it would have been the largest arrival of migrants in South Florida in decades, notes the local newspaper Miami Herald.
On their Twitter account, the Coast Guard recalled today that “the passages of the Florida, Leeward and Mona Straits are unpredictable and dangerous, especially on ships that are not seaworthy”.
Miami Border Patrol (CBP) Area Chief Walter N. Slosar recently reported on Twitter that since October 1, 2022, the Miami area has seen an increase over the previous year of up to 400% of people who arrive by sail irregularly and are detained upon disembarkation.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management (FDEM) recently reported heightened surveillance of Florida’s shores due to detected “mass migration” and after the governor declared a state of emergency. , Republican Ron DeSantis.