Migrants from Haiti, Colombia and China stopped off Hallandale Beach, Coast Guard says
A group of 30 migrants and a smuggling suspect had their trip to the United States stopped off the coast of Hallandale Beach Saturday night, the U.S. Coast Guard said.
A crew from Station Fort Lauderdale, acting on a sighting by Customs and Border Protection flight crew, intercepted the boat around 10 p.m. They brought aboard 25 people from Haiti, three from Colombia, one from Peru, one from China and the suspect from the Bahamas.
All were turned over to Bahamian law enforcement Wednesday, except the suspect, with whom Homeland Security Investigations wanted to discuss human smuggling.
Since Oct. 1, 2020, 588 Haitian migrants have been intercepted by Coast Guard crews. That’s more than the 418 of the previous fiscal year, but well below the counts of 932 and 609 for 2019 and 2018, respectively.
