Interception No. 1 costs an estimated $500k

Dana Malcolm

Staff Writer 

#TurksandCaicos, February 1, 2024 – Five days into the year the TCI recorded at least one interception and while the number of interceptions for the New Year period is down from 2023, the number of actual migrants remains high.

The January 5^th, 2024 interception involved a vessel carrying 215 illegal migrants.  It took a Royal Bahamas Defence Force Cutter, the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service’s helicopter and air support from the United States Coast Guard to interdict it.  The news came from the Governor’s office on January 18th.

Last year by January 18th, three boats had already been chased down by the marine branch, two of them within 3 hours of each other.  The total reported by police was 161 between the two boats in addition to the 124 in the first interception that year, a total of 185.

With the 215 migrants in the first 2024 interdiction having been brought to shore safely and summarily repatriated, the Turks and Caicos starts the year with a $ 473,000 bill for migration expenses.  The number was calculated using the $2 200 per head rate shared by the Ministry of Immigration and Border Services in February 2023.

As the TCI racks up monetary expenses, the people of Haiti, the main source market for people-smuggling are facing a far worse fate.

Extreme hunger is affecting the majority of the population, combined with disease, gang violence, gender-based violence and a democratic vacuum.  These factors have created an environment where braving the 138-mile journey from smuggling hotspots like Cap Haitien in the north to Providenciales is preferable to staying home.

Some of the immigrants land in Turks and Caicos lockup, confessing to having paid to or simply hitched a ride on boats up to six times to find relief.

All eyes are now on Kenya as they struggle against an internal court case barring them from leading the potentially life-saving multi-national force promised to Haiti late last year.