The United States Coast Guard announced on Friday that it had returned 31 migrants of various nationalities, including Jamaicans, to The Bahamas after intercepting three separate illegal maritime ventures in US territorial waters east of Miami, Florida.
The Coast Guard also transferred four suspected human smugglers to Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) for further investigation, with potential federal prosecution in the United States.
The first incident occurred on Sunday when the Coast Guard received a report about a 25-foot recreational vessel traveling west at high speed from The Bahamas to Florida, without navigation lights. Coast Guard personnel aboard the Cutter Richard Etheridge and a Miami Beach boat crew, along with Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations, responded to the vessel. Upon intercepting it, the Coast Guard found 22 people on board, including migrants from Jamaica, Haiti, and China.
A second operation took place on Wednesday, when the Coast Guard, along with the Palm Beach Sheriff’s Office, intercepted a vessel with two people on board. One of the individuals, a suspected smuggler, was handed over to HSI for further investigation, while the other, a Honduran migrant, was taken into custody by Border Patrol agents for expedited removal.
Later that same day, a third smuggling attempt was thwarted east of Key Biscayne, Florida, with another suspected smuggler taken into HSI custody. One migrant required medical evacuation for a higher level of care, and the remaining 11 migrants, from China, Haiti, and Bangladesh, were transferred to the Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous for further processing.
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Lieutenant Commander John W. Beal, public affairs officer for the Coast Guard’s Seventh District, stressed the dangers of illegal maritime migration. “This is always a dangerous and often deadly endeavor, and human smugglers have no regard for the safety of those they exploit,” Beal said. “Our message is clear – do not risk your life or your money by trusting criminal smugglers. Stay off the seas.”
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