19271: (Chamberlain) US Coast Guard holding 500 Haitian migrants at sea (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Frances Kerry

     MIAMI, Feb 26 (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard is holding some 500
Haitian migrants on cutters at sea, but this may not be the first sign of a
mass migration by Haitians trying to flee the turmoil in the Caribbean
nation, the agency said on Thursday.
     FBI and immigration authorities were also investigating whether a
freighter intercepted by the Coast Guard off Miami had been hijacked by
some of the 21 Haitians on board.
     Coast Guard spokeswoman Sandra Bartlett about 500 migrants were being
held on cutters in the Windward Pass, the stretch of ocean northwest of
Haiti where boat people set out on the 600-mile (970-km) journey for
Florida.
     "We do see an increase in flow, but this is by no means an indication
of a mass migration, she added, noting that the Coast Guard regularly sees
fluctuations in the numbers of migrants trying to come to Florida.
     Bartlett said the Haitians were picked up in recent days and would
likely be repatriated, but gave no other details.
     Since an armed revolt against President Jean-Bertrand Aristide flared
in Haiti on Feb. 5, the Coast Guard has been monitoring the Windward Pass,
but until now the agency has not reported an unusual number of migrants.
     Coast Guard statistics show varying flows of Haitian migrants, with
for example 529 intercepted at sea last December and 113 in January, before
the current turmoil erupted in the poorest country in the Americas.
     Investigators were interviewing the crew and passengers on board a
Panamanian-registered freighter, Margot, which the Coast Guard intercepted
on Wednesday about 7 miles (11 km) off Miami after being alerted of a
"security situation."
     Those on board included seven crew members, thought to be Filipinos,
and 21 Haitians.
     Four shotguns and a handgun were handed over to the authorities before
they boarded the vessel, which last called at the western Haitian port of
Gonaives.
     The United States has been anxious to prevent a repeat of the exodus
of the early 1990s, when tens of thousands of Haitians fleeing political
turmoil set out in boats to try to reach Florida.
     U.S. President George W. Bush has warned Haitians not to try to flee
to the United States, saying the Coast Guard would turn back those caught
at sea.
     An unstated concern of the Bush administration is to avoid the Haiti
turmoil spilling over into a migrant crisis in Florida before Bush runs for
re-election in November. The president won the state by a razor-thin margin
in 2000.
     Bush's younger brother, Jeb, is Florida's governor and he described
Wednesday's incident off Miami as a hijacking.
     "They should be sent back to Haiti. They hijacked a boat," said Jeb
Bush. "Unless they have a well-founded fear of persecution that is specific
and meets the criteria of our laws, they should be sent back."
     But Kendrick Meek, a U.S. congressman from south Florida whose
district includes many Haitian Americans, protested the policy of sending
Haitians back automatically.
     Haitians caught at sea should be interviewed to determine if they have
a credible fear of persecution and if they do, should be allowed to apply
for political asylum, he said.

  (Additional reporting by Michael Peltier in Tallahassee)