SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) – Haitians are fleeing in greater numbers to the neighboring Dominican Republic, where they board unstable wooden boats painted blue in the sky to merge with the ocean to try to reach Puerto Rico. – A trip in which 11 Haitians drowned this week, along with dozens of other migrants believed to be missing.
It was the last fatal trip, as US authorities said they had detained twice as many migrants in and around US Caribbean jurisdictions in the past year as a year earlier.
“We’ve seen our Haitian numbers explode,” Scott Garrett, acting chief patrol agent of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Puerto Rico, told the Associated Press.
Garrett and others say Haiti’s political instability, combined with brutal gang violence and a crumbling economy, has led people to flee, doing more through the Dominican Republic. Both sides share the island of Hispaniola, west of Puerto Rico, with an insidious area known as the Mona Pass, which separates the two.
The latest rollout, seen on Thursday, found 11 bodies of Haitians and rescued 38 people – 36 of them Haitians and two from the Dominican Republic. Authorities say one of the survivors is accused of smuggling people. The boat capsized about 11 miles (18 kilometers) north of the uninhabited island of Desechoo, west of Puerto Rico. Dozens are thought to be missing.
Garrett said it was not clear exactly how many migrants were on board the boat, but said survivors had provided authorities with their own estimates. “The numbers we hear are somewhere between 60 and 75,” he said.
The search continued on Friday as the U.S. Coast Guard patrolled open waters northwest of Puerto Rico by boat, plane and helicopter.
Rescue efforts began Thursday after a U.S. Customs and Border Protection helicopter saw people clinging to the overturned boat, U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad said, adding that the crews worked during the night.
“We are always looking for opportunities to find survivors,” he said.
Authorities have released photos showing migrants desperately staying on the boat in open water while awaiting rescue. After reaching the shore, the migrants were escorted down the quay, at least one wearing only underwear. Some were taken away in ambulances and eight Haitians were hospitalized on Friday.
Traveling on shaky boats, known as yola, which Gareth said often had only small engines to avoid detection, has long been the cheapest way for migrants to flee their country, despite ongoing warnings of danger. Smaller engines mean longer journeys, which in turn makes it more dangerous.
He said 30 to 40 migrants were usually on the boats, but those on board said almost twice as many were on board.
On Saturday, 68 migrants were rescued in the Mona Pass, and a woman believed to be from Haiti died. On May 7, customs and border services detained 60 Haitian migrants, whom the agency said were smuggled through southwestern Puerto Rico. On May 4, 59 other Haitian migrants were detained in northwestern Puerto Rico. In late March, officials said they had detained more than 120 migrants in three separate maritime smuggling incidents.
From October 2021 to March, 571 Haitians and 252 people from the Dominican Republic were detained in waters around Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands, according to the US Customs and Border Protection. 348 of the Haitians landed on the uninhabited island of Mona in Puerto Rico and were rescued.
Tom Homan, who was acting director of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Service during much of the Trump administration, said migrants in the latest incident may have been lost, taking them farther away from the mainland, or they may have been trying to reach Puerto Rico, a territory in the United States where they could seek refuge. Both scenarios are common.
It is unusual to have so many women on board, he said, given the 11 dead.
“These migrants leave their lives in the hands of people who do not see them as human beings,” Garrett said. “They see migrants as a commodity to be traded and to make money.”
Pierre Esperance, executive director of Haiti’s National Human Rights Network, said he expects travel to continue despite ongoing warnings of danger.
“It is more risky for Haitians to stay in Haiti than to try to leave Haiti to have a better life,” he said.
A UN report notes that abductions of more than 11 million people in the country have increased by 180% and homicides have risen by 17% in the last year. Dozens of people, including women and children, have been killed in recent weeks amid new clashes between gangs fighting for territory as their power rises following the July 7 assassination of President Yovenel Mois. The United Nations said last week that civilians were being burned alive and that 10-year-old children had been gang-raped.
Haiti has also been hit by double-digit inflation, severe gas shortages and gang violence, which has closed hundreds of schools and businesses and forced some hospitals and clinics to close temporarily. In addition, the Biden administration has deported more than 20,000 Haitians in recent months amid harsh criticism given the country’s downward spiral.
“Even if it’s dangerous to get on a boat, it’s more dangerous for people to stay in Haiti,” Esperance said. “There is no rule of law in Haiti.
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Associated Press reporter Elliott Spagat of San Diego, California, contributed.
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