The US Coast Guard shipped 101 migrants back to the Dominican Republic after nabbing them on the high seas as they tried to make their way to American soil over the weekend, officials said Tuesday.
The Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Texanos sent the sea-borne migrants packing on Monday after intercepting three different crafts loaded with the scofflaws, according to a press release.
“The Coast Guard works daily with our local, federal and Dominican Republic Navy partners in our shared and unwavering resolve to stop unlawful maritime migration voyages in the Mona Passage,” San Jose Sector Commander Gerard Wenk said in a statement.
“These voyages are extremely dangerous since they most often take place aboard grossly overloaded vessels that are unseaworthy and continuously take on water,” Wenk said. “These conditions, along with unpredictable weather patterns in the Mona Passage, could cause a vessel to capsize without notice resulting in loss of life. Don’t take to the sea.”
The most recent intercepted boat was “a grossly overloaded makeshift vessel” was spotted Sunday night by a Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry plane, which sent a cutter to pick up the 34 Dominican migrants.
Earlier in the day, a tug boat captain radioed the Guard to report a group of migrant stowaways on a towed barge, with 11 migrants late picked up — 10 from the Dominican Republic and one from Haiti.
In the first encounter, 57 migrants — 51 from the DR and six from Haiti — were spotted by an HC-144 northwest of Puerto Rico on Saturday aboard another crowded makeshift boat.
All of the migrants were sent home on Monday, officials said.
The Coast Guard said it has picked up 932 migrants in the Mona Passage between Hispaniola and Puerto Rico trying to get to the US between Oct. 1 and the end of last month — 890 from the Dominican Republic, 41 from Haiti and one from Venezuela.
