The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday intercepted a crusing vessel close to the Bahamas believed to be certain for Florida with 191 Haitians aboard.
The Haitians on the overloaded vessel had been taken aboard two Coast Guard ships, given meals and water, and returned to the Bahamas for eventual repatriation, Reuters reported.
The sail freighter was intercepted about 40 miles southwest of Inagua, Bahamas, greater than 500 miles from Florida, according to Coast Guard News.
The variety of Haitians trying the ocean voyage to Florida has elevated lately, as political and financial circumstances in Haiti deteriorated.
U.S. officers have intercepted greater than 800 Haitians trying the voyage since October, placing fiscal 2022 on tempo to surpass the 1,527 Haitians rescued by the Coast Guard in fiscal 2021.
The rise in sea crossings additionally comes because the Biden administration has adopted a coverage of instantly repatriating all Haitians who’re apprehended crossing by land on the U.S.-Mexico border.
The administration has since September despatched 151 flights of Haitians caught on the border again to the troubled Caribbean nation, expelling greater than 15,000 Haitians with out granting them the chance to assert asylum.
Earlier than the coverage of expulsions started, the Biden administration designated Haiti for Short-term Protected Standing (TPS), granting round 150,000 Haitians current in the US earlier than July 29 short-term permits to dwell and work within the nation.
The growing numbers of Haitians trying the ocean voyage displays worsening circumstances in Haiti, but additionally fewer open doorways for Haitians in continental Latin America.
Lots of the Haitians arriving on the U.S.-Mexico border had been lengthy settled in Brazil and Chile, however financial and political adjustments in these international locations compelled these refugees out, with few, if any, selecting to return to Haiti.
Mexico has stepped up its immigration enforcement, whereas additionally turning into a vacation spot nation, significantly as abstract expulsions of recent Haitian arrivals to the US proceed.
