21570: (Chamberlain) U.S. repatriates 651 Haitians intercepted at sea (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Joseph Guyler Delva

     PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti, April 27 (Reuters) - The U.S. Coast Guard
returned 651 Haitians to their homeland on Tuesday, the largest
repatriation of would-be migrants since the start of the February uprising
that drove out President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
     Thirty-seven other Haitians were held aboard a Coast Guard cutter
while U.S. officials reviewed their requests for political asylum, Coast
Guard spokeswoman Lindy Johnson said.
     The Haitians were intercepted at sea aboard three dangerously crowded
wooden sailboats on Friday and Saturday. They included more than 60
children and a woman 7 months pregnant.
     The boats were so rickety the Coast Guard sank them after removing the
passengers, Johnson said.
     Thirteen-year-old Amones Pierre set out with his aunt aboard one of
the boats and was among those returned to Port-au-Prince. Asked if he
realized how dangerous it was to set sail in such a vessel, he said no.
     "My aunt just told me we are going to Miami, where life is more
beautiful," he said.
     Smith Francois, 18, said he would try to leave again because he had no
opportunities in Haiti.
     "My parents cannot help me. I have not even been at school and I don't
have a future here, so I will leave by the next opportunity," Francois
said.
     Johnson said some passengers had paid up to the equivalent of about
$400 to board the boats -- more than the yearly per capita earnings in
impoverished Haiti.
     U.S. agencies stepped up their patrols off Haiti to prevent mass
migration to Florida during the armed rebellion that drove Aristide into
exile on Feb. 29, and President George W. Bush warned those intercepted at
sea would be sent back.
     Tuesday's repatriations brought to 1,591 the number repatriated since
the uprising began, but there has been no mass exodus.
     Haitian migrants who reach the United States are almost always
repatriated. While Cubans intercepted at sea are also sent home, a special
law allows most Cubans who reach U.S. shores to stay and apply for
permanent residency.
     A tragedy last week underscored the danger in attempting the voyage in
homemade wooden boats. Local radio reported that nine Haitians were killed
and 10 were missing after their boat capsized shortly after they left the
Haitian island of La Gonave for Miami.