Posted on Wed, Nov. 06, 2002 story:PUB_DESC

BY ANDREA ELLIOTT AND JENNIFER MALONEY aelliott@herald.com

The Coast Guard announced Tuesday that it would increase patrols around the Caribbean and South Florida after rescuing 52 Dominican migrants Monday night from a boat near Puerto Rico, the third boatload of migrants intercepted by the United States in less than a week.

The Coast Guard will ''significantly increase'' its surveillance of the Straits of Florida, Windward Pass and Old Bahama Channel in response to a rise in migrant activity to Florida from Haiti, Cuba and the Dominican Republic, spokesman Luis Diaz said.

Meanwhile, immigrant advocates helping some of the 200-plus Haitians detained in South Florida last week will use local Haitian radio stations to find relatives who can help the asylum-seekers apply for parole.

''One guy said he had the number of his sister and it fell in the water,'' said Randolph McGrorty, executive director of Catholic Charities Legal Services, whose volunteers have been meeting with some of the Haitians held at the Krome immigration detention center in West Miami-Dade. ``We're going to try to go on Haitian radio and find some of these people.''

Seventeen Haitians and two Dominicans rescued from Biscayne Bay on Oct. 29 were repatriated Tuesday morning to Port-au-Prince.

More than 200 Haitians who participated in the same voyage but made it to shore are being detained. Their legal status did not change Tuesday, although attorneys working with them hope they will be released on parole.

The return of the migrants to Haiti caused much ire among local Haitian activists, who rallied for Haitians to stay home from work Tuesday in protest.

''It's unacceptable that this human-rights violation is taking place here and that people are indifferent,'' said Marleine Bastien, executive director of Haitian Women of Miami.

The group is assisting the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center in finding relatives who can help the Haitians apply for parole by acting as sponsors, said the center's executive director, Cheryl Little.

Bastien headed a sparsely attended protest Tuesday across from the Immigration and Naturalization building at 7880 Biscayne Blvd.

''No justice, no peace! No freedom, no peace!'' about two dozen protesters shouted.

''We feel that whether refugees make it to land or not, their reasons for leaving their country of origin are the same,'' Bastien said before the protest. ``It means people who are fleeing persecution will go back to dangerous conditions, and that is really scary.''

She said Haitian Americans are concerned about the Coast Guard's plans to step up interceptions of migrant boats.

Immigrant advocates believe the move signals pressure from the INS to detain migrants before they reach land, which often allows the Coast Guard to return migrants home without giving them an opportunity to apply for asylum.

''I believe that there is pressure to keep people out,'' McGrorty said. ``What happened today with the repatriation of the 19 people . . . sends a strong message to people to risk their lives and jump into the water. The only way you can make it to dry land is if you jump.''

Still, McGrorty and Little praised the Coast Guard for keeping the safety of the migrants a priority.

Coast Guard officials said they would increase the hours boats spend patrolling the seas.

Two days after more than 200 Haitians climbed ashore at Key Biscayne, the Coast Guard located 58 Haitians aboard a 25-foot wood sailboat south of Turks and Caicos Islands. The Turks and Caicos police took the migrants into custody.

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2002

Answers

The government should announce that, since the US is at war, any unauthorized boat approaching our shores will be destroyed.

Then do it.

Maybe that will make them think twice before coming here. Oh yeah, if anyone that already made it here doesn't like it, they can leave. Now.

I hear it's real nice in Brazil.

-- Anonymous, November 06, 2002