MIAMI, CMC – The US Coast Guard mentioned on Friday that it returned 31 migrants of “combined nationalities” to The Bahamas following three interdictions of unlawful maritime ventures in US territorial waters east of Miami, Florida.
The US Coast Guard mentioned 4 suspected smugglers have been transferred ashore to Homeland Safety Investigations (HIS) agent custody to help additional investigation for potential US federal prosecution.
The Margaret Norvell crew notified Coast Guard Sector Miami command heart watchstanders Sunday of a 25-foot leisure vessel transiting west at a excessive fee of velocity from the Bahamas to Florida with no navigation lights, the US Coast Guard mentioned.
It mentioned Sector Miami watchstanders launched a Coast Guard Station Miami Seashore boat crew and diverted the Coast Guard Cutter Richard Etheridge’s crew. In distinction, Customs and Border Safety Air and Marine Operations launched a coastal intercept vessel crew to reply.
The US Coast Guard mentioned crew from the US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) company “gained constructive management of the non-compliant vessel, and the Margaret Norvell crew embarked all 22 folks onboard.”
The migrants have been of Jamaican, Haitian, and Chinese language nationalities, the US Coast Guard mentioned.
On Wednesday, it mentioned a Coast Guard Station Lake Value Inlet boat crew and a Palm Seashore Sheriff’s Workplace marine patrol unit interdicted a vessel with two folks onboard.
The US Coast Guard mentioned the suspected smuggler was transferred to HSI for additional investigation, and the opposite, a Honduran migrant, was assigned to Border Patrol brokers to be processed for expedited removing.
Sector Miami watchstanders have been additionally notified on Wednesday of a CBP-AMO and Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Fee interdiction of a suspected smuggling enterprise east of Key Biscayne, Florida.
The suspected smuggler was transferred to HSI custody for additional investigation, the US Coast Guard mentioned.
It mentioned one migrant was medically evacuated ashore for “a better stage of care,” and 11 migrants have been transferred by a Coast Guard Station Miami Seashore boat crew to the Coast Guard Cutter Vigorous for disposition.
The US Coast Guard mentioned the migrants have been of Chinese language, Haitian, and Bangladeshi nationalities.
“Unlawful maritime migration is all the time harmful and infrequently lethal, and human smugglers don’t care in regards to the security or lives of aliens throughout these ventures,” mentioned Lieutenant Commander John W. Beal, Seventh Coast Guard District public affairs officer.
“Our message is straightforward – don’t entrust your lives and cash to prison human smugglers simply to be repatriated or deported,” he added. “Don’t take to the ocean.”
