Above: TCI

By the Caribbean Journal staff

For the second time in a week, Turks and Caicos Islands authorities have intercepted a sloop carrying migrants from Haiti in the British Overseas Territory’s waters.

In a statement, Turks and Caicos Minister of Border Control and Labour Ricardo Don Hue Gardiner said the Marine Branch of the Royal Turks and Caicos Police Force apprehended a sloop carrying 84 migrants from Haiti at around 4:30 AM.

The sloop, which was carrying 15 women and 69 men, was towed into South Dock, Providenciales.

Gardiner said the group had already been taken to a detention facility where they will be processed “prior to being repatriated.”

Last week, TCI police intercepted a sloop carrying 114 migrants from Haiti.

At the end of 2013, at least 17 Haitian migrants were confirmed dead when a sloop being towed by police in Providenciales capsized.

Illegal migration from Haiti has become a major issue for Turks and Caicos, which spends about 1 percent of its budget on apprehending and repatriating Haitian migrants, former TCI Governor Ric Todd told Caribbean Journal last year.