Coast Guard intercepts 191 Haitians on overloaded sailing vessel

The U.S. Coast Guard on Tuesday intercepted a sailing vessel near the Bahamas believed to be bound for Florida with 191 Haitians aboard.

The Haitians on the overloaded vessel were taken aboard two Coast Guard ships, given food and water, and returned to the Bahamas for eventual repatriation, Reuters reported. 

The sail freighter was intercepted about 40 miles southwest of Inagua, Bahamas, more than 500 miles from Florida, according to Coast Guard News. 

The number of Haitians attempting the sea voyage to Florida has increased in recent years, as political and economic conditions in Haiti deteriorated.

U.S. officials have intercepted more than 800 Haitians attempting the voyage since October, putting fiscal 2022 on pace to surpass the 1,527 Haitians rescued by the Coast Guard in fiscal 2021.

The increase in sea crossings also comes as the Biden administration has adopted a policy of immediately repatriating all Haitians who are apprehended crossing by land at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The administration has since September sent 151 flights of Haitians caught at the border back to the troubled Caribbean nation, expelling more than 15,000 Haitians without granting them the opportunity to claim asylum.

Before the policy of expulsions began, the Biden administration designated Haiti for Temporary Protected Status (TPS), granting around 150,000 Haitians present in the United States before July 29 temporary permits to live and work in the country.

The increasing numbers of Haitians attempting the sea voyage reflects worsening conditions in Haiti, but also fewer open doors for Haitians in continental Latin America.

Many of the Haitians arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border were long settled in Brazil and Chile, but economic and political changes in those countries forced those refugees out, with few, if any, choosing to return to Haiti.

Mexico has stepped up its immigration enforcement, while also becoming a destination country, particularly as summary expulsions of new Haitian arrivals to the United States continue.