13525: (Chamberlain posts) U.S.-bound Haitians intercepted off Turks & Caicos (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     MIAMI, Nov 1 (Reuters) - A sailboat carrying 58 Haitian migrants
believed to be headed for the United States was intercepted off the Turks
and Caicos Islands southeast of the Bahamas, the U.S. Coast Guard said on
Friday.
     The 25-foot (7.5-metre) wooden boat was intercepted on Thursday, two
days after some 200 Haitian migrants jumped off a grounded freighter near
Miami, setting off a political debate on their treatment in the United
States.
     In the latest incident, U.S. Coast Guard crews patrolling by
helicopter as part of a multinational task force spotted the dangerously
crowded vessel about 15 miles (24 km) south of Providenciales, the capital
of the Turks and Caicos island chain.
     They radioed the vessel's location to Turks and Caicos police, who
took custody of the Haitians and their boat, U.S. Coast Guard spokeswoman
Anastasia Burns said.
     Turks and Caicos police said the Haitians were brought ashore,
interviewed and were being sent back to Haiti on Friday.
     U.S., Bahamian and Turks and Caicos authorities jointly patrol the
region to thwart smugglers and illegal immigrants, including Haitians
fleeing their impoverished homeland.
     Migrant traffic tends to increase this time of year, after the
hurricane season has peaked. Although the numbers fleeing Haiti by boat
have been nothing like the mass exodus seen in the mid-1990s, the U.S.
Coast Guard intercepted more than 1,400 U.S.-bound Haitian migrants last
year.
     Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere, has been plagued
by political turmoil and a worsening economy since a disputed 2000
election, prompting desperate Haitians to make the dangerous voyage in
hopes of starting a better life in the United States.
     Those who reach U.S. shores generally are held in detention centers
and then sent home, in contrast to Cuban emigres who are considered
refugees from communism and generally allowed to stay in the United States.
     The disparate treatment has prompted allegations of racism from some
black Americans, who say the Haitians are discriminated against because
they are black.
     After those who arrived in Miami on Tuesday were locked up by
immigration authorities, some blacks and immigrant advocates appealed to
Florida Gov. Jeb Bush to ask his brother, U.S. President George W. Bush, to
release them.
     The incident quickly became an issue in Florida's gubernatorial
election, where incumbent Jeb Bush faces Democratic challenger Bill McBride
in Tuesday's balloting.