Lost contact with migrant relatives sailing to Florida? Here’s how to get their status
Have you lost contact with a migrant relative who set sail to Florida from Cuba or Haiti? If so, you are not alone.
More than two dozen people called the office of U.S. Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart last year asking for help to locate their migrant family members, said Laura Hernandez, the Florida congressman’s spokeswoman.
SEE: Photos of the boats in which migrants have traveled
From Oct. 1 of last year to the middle of last week, the U.S. Coast Guard had detained 1,053 Cuban migrants compared to the last fiscal year when 838 were detained in a 12-month period. The Coast Guard had detained 2,284 Haitian migrants during the same time period compared to the last fiscal year when 1,527 were detained. Fiscal years begin in October and end in September of the next year.
For those who want to know if their migrant family member has been detained at sea by the Coast Guard, here’s what you need to know.
If you live in the U.S.
People living in the U.S. who want to inquire about the possible detention of a loved one at sea can contact their local U.S. representative, according to the Coast Guard.
To find out your representative in Congress, follow these steps:
▪ Visit the U.S. House of Representatives website at house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative, enter your ZIP Code and click on the red button that says “FIND YOUR REP BY ZIP.”
▪ A photo of your representative should appear above the name and party affiliation. To the right, you will see an interactive map of the congressional district. Click on the name of your congressional representative and a new browser window should open with their official congressional website.
▪ Scroll down to find the telephone numbers of their office in Washington, D.C., and their local district offices.
If your ZIP Code is represented by more than one elected official, the House of Representatives’ website will prompt you to enter your address, city and state before following the CAPTCHA instructions and clicking a red button that says “FIND YOUR REP BY ADDRESS.” After doing that, click on the name of the politician and continue the same process.
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But before calling, you should have on hand as much information as possible about the people you are inquiring about, such as:
▪ Names and ages
▪ Number of people in the vessel
▪ Date and time when they sailed
▪ Location where they sailed from
▪ Location where they were expected to arrive
If you call outside of normal business hours, leave a voicemail with your name, phone number and reason for your call. Some congressional offices monitor voicemails during the weekend and holidays, Hernandez said.
After you provide the necessary information to the office staff of your representative in Congress, they will contact U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to find out if the Coast Guard detained your loved one. Depending on the information USCIS has, the office staff will tell you whether your family member has been detained and returned to their home country. This process can take several hours or days.
If you live outside the U.S.
If you live outside the U.S., you must contact the local U.S. Embassy, according to the Coast Guard.
Here are the phone numbers of some U.S. embassies abroad:
▪ Cuba: (53)(7) 839-4100
▪ Haiti: 011-509-2229-8000
▪ The Bahamas: 242-322-1181
▪ Dominican Republic: 809-567-7775
What if it’s an emergency?
If you see someone in danger at sea, call 911, Coast Guard spokeswoman Petty Officer Nicole Groll said. She also said boaters can contact the Coast Guard on their VHF radio via channel 16.
“Mariners have an innate obligation to call the Coast Guard if they see anyone in the water in distress,” she said.
This story was originally published March 29, 2022 at 6:00 AM.
