The US Coast Guard rescued 64 Cuban migrants and 100 Haitian migrants during a busy week of illegal maritime migration attempts from Cuba and Haiti into the United States.
The 64 Cuban migrants were repatriated last week following three separate interdictions at sea in the Florida Straits dating back to August 7.
On Monday, the crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Paul Clark located a grossly overloaded Haitian sail freighter in Bahamian waters. A deployed Coast Guard MH-60 Jayhawk helicopter crew from Operation Bahamas Turks and Caicos launched to assist the Clark in rescuing the distressed migrants.
Crewmembers from the Paul Clark arrived on scene and safely embarked the 100 Haitian migrants. The migrants were later transferred to Royal Bahamian Defense Force officials.
“Migrant operations are unique in that they are both a law enforcement and a safety of life at sea mission. In this case, the crew of the Paul Clark saved the lives of 100 Haitians attempting a perilous journey that could have had a tragic result,” said Cmdr. Timothy Cronin, deputy chief of enforcement for the Coast Guard 7th District.
In fiscal year 2014, the Coast Guard 7th District estimates that 3,095 Cubans and 4,506 Haitian have attempted to migrate illegally via the sea. These numbers represent the total amount of at-sea interdictions, landings and disruptions in the Florida Straits, the Caribbean and Atlantic.