U.S. Coast Guard crews rescued a group of 45 migrants packed onto an overloaded sailboat. Photos and video show smugglers loaded the migrants onto the boat without life jackets.
U.S. Coast Guard Southeast officials tweeted a series of reports regarding a sailboat of the coast of Virginia Key carrying 45 Haitian migrants. Officials have not reported the nationality of the migrants.
@Update Crews are still rescuing folks from the vessel off Virginia Key. Our land partners are with people who left the vessel and took to the water to swim to shore.
Please stay clear of the area for safety of responding aircraft, vessels, and land crews. pic.twitter.com/uVUx1nLSMh
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) January 12, 2023
A video from an approaching Coast Guard vessel shows the migrants packed on the deck of the sailboat without life jackets.
More updates will follow as they become available. pic.twitter.com/yAC4SYGszj
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) January 12, 2023
Responding Coast Guard and other law enforcement partners removed the 45 migrants from the sailboat and transferred them to a Coast Guard cutter where they received food, water, shelter, and basic medical screening. It is likely the migrants were repatriated to their home country.
#Breaking #Update #Miami #Florida
25 Haitian migrants were taken into U.S. Border Patrol custody. Local EMS was on scene to conduct medical screenings. Add’l migrants are being transferred to a USCG cutter. We appreciate the support from all of the responding agencies. https://t.co/2wvEVOk736 pic.twitter.com/vSZdC2s34x
— Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar (@USBPChiefMIP) January 13, 2023
Elsewhere, Guardsmen from USCG Station Islamorada interdicted what appears to be a homemade watercraft packed with migrants. Again, none of the migrants had life jackets until Coast Guard law enforcement officials handed them out.
More updates will follow as they become available. pic.twitter.com/yAC4SYGszj
— USCGSoutheast (@USCGSoutheast) January 12, 2023
The crew of the Coast Guard boat stopped the vessel from reaching the U.S. coast in Florida.
Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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