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Posted on Mon, Apr. 09, 2007

78 Haitians 'packed on' boat are intercepted

A U.S. Coast Guard cutter crew is caring for 78 Haitians who were intercepted on a small, homemade sailboat in the Windward Pass, Coast Guard officials reported Monday.

The crew of the Cutter Forward picked up the migrants from the 37-foot boat Sunday morning off the coast of Haiti. The migrants said they were en route to Miami, Coast Guard officials said.

Spokeswoman Jennifer Johnson described the vessel as ``dangerously overloaded.''

''A 37 foot boat usually holds 10 people. It was grossly overloaded. They were packed on that thing,'' Johnson said.

A Coast Guard jet on routine patrol off the coast of Haiti spotted the migrants. A helicopter crew from the Miami station monitored the boat's position until the cutter arrived. Officials transferred the migrants to the cutter, where they got food and medical care.

The migrants will be held until U.S. Customs determines their fate. Johnson said they most likely will be repatriated to Haiti.

On March 28, 102 Haitians packed in a rickety sailboat landed at Hallandale Beach. One man died. Those migrants, including 14 children, are in federal detention. Most of the adults are being held at the Broward County detention facility. They have been meeting with immigration attorneys, who are trying to show the Haitians have a credible fear of returning to Haiti -- a legal standard they would need to meet under U.S. law.

Haiti has experienced an increase in gang violence in the capital of Port-au-Prince.