29760: (news) Chamberlain: Migrants Stopped (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   By LAURA WIDES-MUNOZ

   MIAMI, Jan 3 (AP) -- The number of migrants stopped off the southeastern
U.S. coast dropped by more than 40 percent last year, the U.S. Coast Guard
said Wednesday.
   Coast Guard agents patrolling the waters of South Carolina, Florida and
the Caribbean, where migrants from Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic
frequently arrive, stopped 6,061 migrants in 2006, down from 10,279 in
2005.
   Stormy weather, fear of increased patrols and political changes in the
migrants' home countries contributed to the drop, officials said.
   The number of Cubans stopped at sea dropped only slightly, but the
number of Haitians stopped dropped sharply, down 60 percent to 769 people.
The number of Dominicans stopped also had a steep drop -- down 50 percent
to 2,203.
   Miami-based Haitian advocate Marleine Bastien said the drop in Haitian
apprehensions was likely tied to last year's election of the country's
president, Rene Preval, who has received wide support both internationally
and at home.
   "Haitians want to live in Haiti. They want to stay in Haiti. They only
come here when they feel their lives and the lives of their loved ones are
threatened," Bastien said. "Whenever there's a democratically elected
government in place, they tend to have a 'wait and see' attitude."
   Bastien said U.S. immigration policies have also decreased the flow.
Haitians who illegally make it into the U.S. are generally sent back, while
most Cubans who reach U.S. soil are allowed to stay.
   A separate set of figures shows that Cubans may have been more
successful in reaching land in 2006 than in 2005. During fiscal years 2005
and 2006, the number of Cubans detained by border patrol on land in South
Florida jumped from 2,530 to 3,076.
   Miami Border Patrol spokesman Victor Colon called the change
insignificant. But South Florida immigration attorney Wilfredo Allen said
the statistics could signal an increase -- not a decrease -- in Cuban
immigrants.
   Coast Guard officials said the announcement by Fidel Castro in July that
he was handing over power to his brother may have caused enough uncertainty
about the future of the dictatorship to keep some Cubans from attempting to
leave. But Allen said the uncertainty may have prompted more people to
migrate, and that tighter restrictions by both the Cuban and U.S.
governments have prompted more people to rely on smugglers.
   "And the smugglers are effective at their job," Allen said.
   Still, the overall decrease in interdictions at sea mirrors the overall
drop in illegal immigrants arrested by Border Patrol agents in South
Florida and the Caribbean during the 2006 fiscal year -- as well as a
nationwide drop in such arrests along the Mexican border.
   ------
   On the Net:
   U.S. Coast Guard: http://www.d7publicaffairs.com/
   U.S. Border Patrol:
http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/border--security/border--patrol/