30349: Hermantin(News)Haitians halted, but not Cubans (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>

Haitians halted, but not Cubans


By Macollvie Jean-François and Ruth Morris
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

April 10, 2007



U.S. Coast Guard patrol officers stopped 78 Haitians fleeing their country in a 
"dangerously overloaded" homemade boat, an agency spokesman said Monday, while 
two smaller groups of Cuban immigrants landed on South Florida shores.

The Haitians left in a 37-foot sailing vessel and had reached the Windward 
Passage between Haiti and Cuba when officers saw them early Sunday, said 
spokesman Petty Officer 3rd Class Barry Bena.

"For the size of the vessel, when you have more than it's supposed to carry, 
[it] becomes very unstable," Bena said.

Because the boat was so close to Haiti, Bena said, the Haitians are likely to 
be turned over to authorities in their country.

Meanwhile, border patrol authorities reported 40 Cubans landed on beaches in 
the Florida Keys around dawn Monday. A group of 30 appeared near Marathon about 
5 a.m. in what "appeared to be a `go-fast' smuggling event," said Miami 
assistant chief Victor Colon. Go-fast boats are large speedboats generally 
belonging to U.S.-based smugglers who charge thousands of dollars per person to 
bring immigrants to the United States.

An hour later, border patrol agents responded to a landing of 10 Cubans in 
north Key Largo. The group (five men and five women) said they'd been at sea 
for three days and showed signs of exposure to the sun, authorities said. 
Cubans who set foot on U.S. soil generally are allowed to stay and apply for 
green cards a year later. U.S. authorities repatriate Cubans interdicted at 
sea.

Attempted sea crossings are fairly common off South Florida shores. The dangers 
involved came to the forefront on March 28, when 101 Haitians arrived on 
Hollywood Beach famished and dehydrated on an old sailboat. They remain in 
federal custody.
Copyright © 2007, South Florida Sun-Sentinel

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