Two Illegal Migrant Boats intercepted, 161 caught

By Dana Malcolm 

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, January 20, 2023 – Two migrant boats landed in the Turks and Caicos Wednesday morning marking at least three illegal landings already in just the first 18 days of the year. Images shared by the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force show the tiny boats being brought to shore with migrants stuffed inside, no safety vests in sight.

Police say both vessels were detected and reported by the Coastal Radar Station, resulting in swift responses by both the Sea Guardian and Sea Protector vessels.

The first, intercepted at 2:20 a.m., was so determined to make landfall that the Captains paid the police no mind when instructed to “stop” forcing officers to engage in a number of tactical maneuvers, strong-arming the illegal vessel into compliance.

Only three hours later around 5:35am, in the vicinity of the Caicos Marina and Shipyard another attempted to breach the country’s borders.

The total reported by police was 161 between the two boats.  The breakdown of which was: 44 (34 males and 10 females) on the first vessel and 117 illegal migrants (93 males and 22 females) on the second.

Governor and co-chair of the Security council had revealed that between Christmas eve and New Year’s day alone 275 irregular migrants had attempted to make it into the country; alarming statistics that were picked  up by major Caribbean and UK media houses including The Guardian.

Dakin had explained what it would look like if migration at that rate occurred in the US or UK.

“This is, pro-rata, the equivalent of 360,000 crossing the English Channel, or 1.6 million attempting to cross the US’s southern border, over nine days.”

Now, this latest capture has surged that figure by over 150 in just one night.  Residents continue to offer that Turks and Caicos needs to find the way to stop the unrelenting influx of illegal Haitians.

TCI last week responded to the overwhelming numbers of Haitians within the TCI by immediately enacting a six month freeze on Haitian visitor visas.