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.