30267: (news) Chamberlain: Migrants Ashore (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

   HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla., Mar 28 (AP) -- About 100 migrants apparently
from Haiti were being treated for dehydration Wednesday after their
dilapidated, overloaded sailboat reached the Florida shore, officials said.
At least one person died in the crossing.
   Some of the migrants swam from the boat to shore, while others jumped
out onto the beach after the boat landed.
   "The boat was unseaworthy and grossly overloaded," Coast Guard Petty
Officer Jennifer Johnson said.
   It wasn't immediately clear exactly how many people were aboard or if
any were children, Coast Guard spokesman Dana Warr said. He said one body
washed up on the beach, and the Coast Guard and local authorities were
searching for other possible migrants.
   The group had been on the boat for several days, said Border Patrol
spokesman Victor Colon. Immigration officials planned to interview the
migrants Wednesday.
   Haitians who illegally make it into the U.S. are generally sent back.
Most Cubans who reach U.S. soil are allowed to stay under U.S. policy. Last
year, Coast Guard agents patrolling the waters of South Carolina, Florida
and the Caribbean stopped 6,061 migrants, 769 of them from Haiti.