Defence Force officials reported on Tuesday that U.S. Coast Guard officials apprehended a group of 311 Haitian immigrants on Anguilla Cay a day earlier.
In accordance with the Ship Riders’ Agreement between the governments of The Bahamas and the United States of America, a bi-lateral agreement permits Coast Guard vessels to conduct law enforcement operations in Bahamian territorial waters.
Acting upon information received from Defence Force officials, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Valiant reportedly patrolled the southeast quadrant of the Cay Sal Bank where the ship’s company discovered a 50-foot Haitian freighter which was beached on Anguilla Cay.
Defence Force officials said the immigrants included 81 females, five of whom were infants; and 230 males, five of whom were also infants.
They all appeared to be in fair health, officials said.
They also reported that due to the unsanitary state of the Haitian vessel, the illegal immigrants were embarked aboard the USCGC Valiant, and were being repatriated directly to Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
“Building upon the entrenched foundation of cooperation between them, elements of the United Sates Coast Guard and the Royal Bahamas Defence Force have continued to work together in combating the flow of illegal immigrants within Bahamian waters,” the Defence Force said in a statement issued on Tuesday afternoon.
They reported that a total of 369 Haitian immigrants have been apprehended in Bahamian waters in the past three days.
Officials reported on Sunday that during the morning hours of Saturday, while on routine law enforcement patrol in the Exuma chains, Defence Force officers apprehended 58 undocumented Haitian immigrants trying to land without permission.
That group reportedly included 53 males and five females who were found aboard a 40-foot Haitian sloop approximately 13 miles off Cistern Cay.
The immigrants were transported to the Coral Harbour Base in New Providence aboard a Defence Force craft.
They all appeared to be in good health and were turned over to immigration officials for processing, Defence Force authorities said.
These latest apprehensions came as Haiti prepares for internationally watched elections next month.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell recently pointed to the importance of those elections being successful.
“If the elections are successful you have a government that you can deal with in Haiti which has the respect of its people and that can reach out from Port-au-Prince to the borders where the problem of illegal migration [exists],” Minister Mitchell told the Journal.
“And that’s our hope and expectation.”
Source: The Bahama Journal
