TCI News
TCI’s ‘Operation Guardian’ vigorously arresting illegal migrants, over 113 caught so far
#Providenciales, Turks and Caicos – March 17, 2018 – The hunt for illegal migrants in the Turks and Caicos continued into Friday night and Saturday in a multi-agency effort named, #OperationGuardian.
“Operation Guardian, as was mentioned by the Deputy (Police) Commissioner, has yielded tremendous success… it has really began to shift the tide in how we go about our enforcement activities, how we pool our resources and yield the best results. For further mention, it is not only focused on the landing of sloops, but operation Guardian also deals with the visits to job sites and inspections in the communities as well and our ability to detect and apprehend and eventually repatriate illegal persons living and working in the Turks and Caicos Islands,” explained Deputy Premier and Minister of Border Control, #SeanAstwood.
The re-booted operation is led by the Immigration Department of the Ministry of Border Control and invites support from its Labour Department arm, from the Physical Planning Department and as was explained in an emergency Friday afternoon press conference held at the Office of the Premier, has enjoyed US Coast Guard and private citizens help.
“Sometime last year in response to the spate of violent crimes that was going on last year, there was a group of local businessmen that reached out to the Government and offered assistance in a financial way. My Ministry along with the Police Department along with the Governor has been actively engaging in those discussions over the past number of months… the Police Department are benefitting from their efforts as well as my ministry, the first thing we are receiving out of that fund is a van for the Task Force use that will be day to day operation of things. We want to thank them publically as well. That is going to be an ongoing and continuous support… “
Border Control Minister and Deputy Premier, Astwood explained that 113 Haitians had been rounded up in the past month; 84 of the individuals have been repatriated and 56 others are held at the detention center on South Dock road, awaiting deportation.
“There has been additional staff hired already and we will be increasing the number of staff for the Task Force, just yesterday there was a release from the Deputy Governor’s Office about the availability of new job vacancies for new immigration officers and that is mainly focused on directing to the Task Force.”
The Government’s announcement of recruitment to bolster the Task Force on the local level intimates that the patrols and manhunts are demanding on the current team; the Minister cautioned the public about making sketchy reports which waste valuable time and energy.
“The public should be mindful about making unconfirmed statements about sloop landings because what it does then is it re-directs our resources into areas and then obviously hinders our operations process as well. While we appreciate and welcome the information that we are getting and that we are acting on is credible.
Overnight, more illegal migrants were taken into custody, however the count is unknown. It is believed some of the migrants rounded-up are not among the new illegal Haitians who are believed to have entered Providenciales on five different boats which made land fall between March 9-16; a mere seven day span.
Almost two million visitors recorded in 2025
PROVIDENCIALES, TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS – The Turks and Caicos Islands saw an increase in stayover arrivals in December, seven percent higher than the corresponding period in 2024.
Preliminary data suggests that stay over arrivals by air for the month of December was 66,427 in comparison to 62,610 in December 2024.
From January to December 2025, preliminary visitor arrival numbers totalled 640,754; on par with the number recorded for the same period of 2024.
Stay Over Arrivals YTD December 2024/2025
The first quarter of the calendar year attracted the largest number of arrivals with visitor arrivals three percent higher than the first quarter of 2024. Reduced airlift from the United Kingdom and the United States, most notably the Virgin Atlantic and JetBlue services, was however felt from the second quarter (April to June). As a result, visitor arrivals dropped three percent in the second quarter.
By the third quarter of this year (July to September), geopolitical and economic conditions in the key source markets, namely the United States, led to further contraction of arrivals. In the last quarter of 2025, arrivals were impacted in October due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa but additional airlift from the USA and Canada resulted in an increase in arrivals in November and December.
Mr. Paul Pennicook, Interim CEO Consultant of Experience Turks and Caicos, said December’s increase in stayover arrivals is an encouraging indicator of the sustained interest in the Turks and Caicos Islands as a premier destination.
“While we note and continue to monitor geopolitical shifts that affect us, Experience Turks and Caicos is focused on increasing marketing initiatives in our primary source markets. We have spent the last two years investing in groundwork such as crucial travel advisor training to assist them in selling the destination more effectively. In the next fiscal, we will be building on those initiatives with co-op activities with partners as well as out of home advertising to increase visitation to our destination,” he said.
In Cruise, the preliminary count of passenger arrivals for the month of December 2025 was 129,346, a 22 percent increase over last December. This growth follows the berthing of 11 additional ships in Grand Turk this month.
From January to December, the cruise sector continued to outperform the same period last year, as the 1.3 million total cruise passengers recorded, marks a five percent Year-on-Year increase. 
The cruise sector experienced significant growth in the first quarter of 2025, with passenger arrivals surpassing last quarter by 53 percent. In the second and third quarter however, several cruise lines adjusted their itineraries as vessels were pulled from the fleet or from the Caribbean region, which resulted in fewer passengers.
Arrivals dropped seven percent and 10 percent in the second and third quarters, respectively. Double digit growth was recorded in the last two months of Quarter 4. This growth however, was not sufficient to outweigh the drop in arrivals experienced in October, following the cancellation of cruise calls due to the passage of Hurricane Melissa. Despite the late-quarter rebound, arrivals for the final quarter of 2025 closed six percent below the same period in 2024.
News
The Department of Trade, Industry & Fair Competition to Host Export Readiness Workshop Under the theme “Empowering TCI Businesses for Local Growth and Global Markets.”
Providenciales, Turks and Caicos Islands – Wednesday, 11 February 2026: The Informal Settlements Unit (ISU) coordinated a multi-agency enforcement operation on Thursday, 29 January 2026, led by the Planning Department, with support from the Crown Land
Unit, the Turks and Caicos Islands Border Force, and security provided by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force. The operation, carried out at three different locations in Providenciales, formed part of ongoing government efforts to address unauthorised development and illegal occupation of land in accordance with governing legislation.
The operation commenced in Blue Hills, where five Section 58 Enforcement Notices were issued on unauthorised structures identified on Block and Parcel 60502/48.
Enforcement activity then moved to a second location off the Leeward Highway near Caicos Lodge, where six Section 58 Enforcement Notices were issued on additional unauthorised structures on Block and Parcel 60802/66.
The final phase of the operation took place in The Bight, where three unauthorised structures were removed, with all debris cleared from the site in keeping with established safety and environmental protocols.
The Informal Settlements Unit remains committed to working alongside its partner agencies to support lawful development, protect public and private land, and ensure that planning regulations are enforced in a coordinated and transparent manner across the Turks and Caicos Islands. Similar joint operations will continue as part of the Government’s wider strategy to address unauthorised development and informal settlement activity.
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