Nearly 300 Haitian migrants were stopped in the Caribbean territory’s seas, according to Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) authorities, imposing pressure on law enforcement and immigration resources.
Between December 23 and January 2, three overcrowded boats transporting 275 people—including men, women, and children—were stopped close to the small, autonomous British territory.
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The governor of the TCI, Nigel Dakin, stated that “with elongated maritime borders our resources are stretched because a small island state in the end will only have so much capacity or capability it can deploy.”
The vessels came from Haiti, where intensifying gang conflicts had just sparked a surge of exodus and had traveled more than 140 miles (226 km) over many days.
Before being transported to TCI’s detention facility, the boat’s occupants received medical attention and underwent many days of imprisonment.
According to Sharlene Richards, the immigration director, as of Tuesday, January 3, 184 persons have been returned to Haiti. She wouldn’t disclose how many people were looking for refuge.
The most populous sovereign nation in the Caribbean and the poorest in the western hemisphere, Haiti, has been beset for years by political instability, natural catastrophes, and acts of violence.
However, after President Jovenel Mose was assassinated in July 2021, the nation descended further into political and economic turmoil amid violent gang battles.
At the end of 2021, a joint statement from UN human rights organizations said that population mobility was caused by the “complex social, economic, humanitarian, and political situation.”
The report went on to mention that survivors of gender-based violence, trafficking victims, and children who are alone or separated from their families are among those looking for a better life overseas.
The TCI archipelago, a posh vacation hotspot in the northern Caribbean, has been a popular alternative for many people looking for a better life due to its closeness and style of living.
Haiti “bears down on TCI,” according to Dakin, a UK-appointed officer in charge of the territory’s internal and external security.
“Not deliberately – the Haitian people have no ill will towards us, quite the opposite. But they are 11 million and we are 50,000: 220 times our size.
Following a detection report from the TCI’s radar station on the evening of December 23, the Royal TCI police force’s maritime section stopped the first boat off West Harbour Bluff.
52 passengers on the open wooden boat were securely apprehended by the TCI unit and immigration inspectors.
On Christmas Day, a trade boat called Family Express carrying 95 passengers was stopped.
An investigation into the boat passage is being supported by the US Department of Homeland Security and Homeland Security Investigations, which has agents temporarily located in the TCI.
In the third instance, marine authorities detained a Haitian boat early on January 2nd, two miles off South Dock.
They held 128 individuals, including four women and a kid, until around one in the morning.
Arlington Musgrove, the TCI government’s minister of immigration, said in a statement that the TCI government continues to take a “clear zero-tolerance approach” to people smuggling.
Washington Misick, the premier of TCI, mentioned an increased emphasis on immigration during the previous several months and in the next year in his greeting for the new year.
“We have increased our aerial and sea surveillance to further harden our borders,” he declared.
“A ship rider agreement with the Bahamas allows Turks and Caicos Islands’ personnel on Bahamian vessels to give us better surveillance of our territorial waters.
The territorial immigration regulations will be changed in 2023, he noted.
“Anyone caught breaking the law will face stiffer penalties including the revocation of permanent residency certificates and status.”
