Children threatened during migrant stop off Bahamas as landings continue in the Keys
Adults aboard a migrant sailboat threatened to harm several young Haitian children as the vessel was approached by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter in Bahamian waters Sunday morning, according to the agency.
Crew members from the Cutter Tampa backed off and then “shadowed” the sailboat for several hours and “employed a variety of techniques to deescalate the situation” before finally being able to get all the people on board to cooperate, the Coast Guard said in a statement released on Twitter Tuesday.
All 145 people from Haiti on board were transferred to Bahamian authorities and will “eventually undergo Bahamian immigration processing,” the statement continued.
A Coast Guard spokesperson did not immediately respond when asked if anyone on the boat will be arrested because of the threats made to the children.
In the Florida Keys
While the influx in maritime migration from Cuba and Haiti to South Florida has slowed since both U.S. and Florida officials have reinforced the Keys with more personnel, aircraft and boats, people are still trying to get through, some successfully.
On Tuesday morning, 17 men from Cuba arrived in a red rustic boat on Long Key in the Upper Florida Keys, according to the U.S. Border Patrol.
Another arrival over the weekend showed it’s not just people from Haiti and Cuba trying to get to the United States by sea.
In Miami-Dade
Federal agents stopped a small center console boat Sunday night near Haulover Beach in Northeast Miami-Dade with three people from the Republic of Georgia on board.
“The vessel will be seized,” Walter Slosar, chief patrol agent for the Border Patrol’s Miami operations, said in a statement on Twitter. “Investigation is ongoing.”
This story was originally published March 7, 2023 at 2:28 PM.
