More than 200 illegal Haitian migrants run ashore in Miami

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Posted on Tue, Oct. 29, 2002 story:PUB_DESC

By The Associated Press

More than 200 illegal Haitian immigrants jumped overboard, waded ashore and rushed onto a major highway Tuesday after their 50-foot wooden freighter ran aground off Virginia Key.

The Coast Guard spotted the vessel about 2 p.m. and followed the illegal immigrants, said Coast Guard spokesman Luis Diaz. They came ashore near Hobie Beach on Rickenbacker Causeway leading to Key Biscayne.

It was not immediately known if there were any injuries.

The migrants were lowered into the water and ran into the streets, causing the six-lane Rickenbacker to be shut down.

''It's so stopped up its almost impossible to travel either way,'' said Miami detective Delrish Moss.

Coast Guard personnel could be seen pulling migrants from the water and throwing them life preservers. Children could be seen being transferred from the boat to people in the water.

Border Patrol agents were en route to the causeway to begin interviewing the migrants, said spokesman Carlos Roches. He said the interview process will begin after agents determine if the migrants are safe.

''If they claim political asylum, we will process them accordingly,'' Roches said.

Unlike Cubans who reach dry land, Haitian immigrants usually are denied asylum in the United States and sent back to their homeland.

In December, a ship with 187 Haitian migrants grounded off Elliot Key. Most of those migrants are still being detained by immigration officials in South Florida.

The Bush administration changed its detention policy on Haitian refugees in December to discourage a feared mass exodus from the Caribbean nation. Immigration attorneys sued the government in March, saying the new policy of detention was racially biased.

Human rights advocates said the policy treats Haitians differently than asylum seekers from other countries, who are generally freed until their asylum requests are granted or denied.

-- Anonymous, October 29, 2002

Answers

It was something to listen to, that's for sure!

glad I was in a secure building when that was going on dowtown.

oh wait, I was at work.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2002


Barefoot, how many Haitians can you squeeze into the back of a USPS truck?

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2002

that depends on whether they have to breathe, and if you want it to float.

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2002

LOL! Just don't put 'em in a FedEx truck. . .

-- Anonymous, October 30, 2002

You mean the one with the ejector button that jettisons them back to Haiti?

-- Anonymous, October 31, 2002


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