Haiti – Turks and Caicos Islands: Decrease in interceptions at sea of illegal Haitian migrants
03/07/2024 10:46:25
So far this year, the Turks and Caicos Islands have seen a significant reduction in the number of migrants intercepted attempting to enter the country illegally from Haiti.
Mat Newton, Deputy Commissioner of Police, during a press conference at the police headquarters, revealed that last year the country saw 4,016 irregular migrants intercepted from Haiti and that this year, for the first 6 months there were 865 (727 men, 138 women including 8 minors) in total during 10 separate interceptions.
Newton stressed: “It’s fair to say that some boats will get through, but I think we’re doing a better job of intercepting those irregular migrants. Secondly, the Operation Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Surveillance (OPBAT) partnership is more effective in terms of intelligence sharing and asset sharing. There’s also better coordination within the partnership to ensure that we’re deploying all of our air and maritime assets effectively. Finally, there’s now an increase in air and maritime assets deployed in the northern Caribbean region.”
Newton also confirmed that infrastructure work on the new maritime radar has begun and it will be ready for deployment in the next four weeks. He said the radar, funded by the Foreign Commonwealth Development Office, will increase the ability to detect migrant boats…
Finally, he said: “Investigations into people traffickers have been particularly effective over the last three months, working with Border Force. We currently have a number of people in custody on quite serious charges and we will target those who facilitate this.”
“We also believe that there is some form of transnational organized crime that is occurring in this context. There are also local people who are facilitating these issues, so not only is the migrant situation occurring, but also the way in which it is being facilitated. We are digging deeper to see if we can identify the people who, in my opinion, are relying on smuggling for personal gain. We are really trying to identify that and bring those people to justice,” he said.
S/ HaïtiLibre
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