CAPSIZED BOAT NEAR FLORIDA LEAVES 39 PEOPLE MISSING

Avellon Williams 

FLORIDA- United States Coast Guard crews were on Tuesday searching for 39 people ,who have been missing since Monday, after a boat believed to have been piloted by human smugglers capsized off the coast of Florida, en route from the Bahamas.

The Coast Guard reported on Twitter that a good Samaritan rescued a man clinging to the boat 45 miles (72 kilometers) east of Fort Pierce on Tuesday morning.

As far as he knew, he left the island of Bimini in the Bahamas on Saturday night with a group of people. In severe weather, he said the boat capsized, and no one was wearing a life jacket.

It has been described as human smuggling by the Coast Guard.”

Searches are underway by both air and sea over a roughly 135-mile (218-kilometer) area from Bimini to the Fort Pierce Inlet, authorities said on Twitter.

Patrols are conducted in the waters surrounding Haiti, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and the Bahamas, along routes migrants often take to reach the United States. Stopping foreigners from navigating U.S. waters and repatriating them is the agency’s mission.

In an overloaded sailship west of Great Inagua, Bahamas, the Coast Guard found 88 Haitians on Friday.

In a statement last weekend, the Coast Guard stated that “navigation through the Florida Straits, Windward Passage, and Mona Passage can be deadly.”

13 people were rescued off Key West in July after their boat capsized due to Tropical Storm Elsa.

In all, 22 people were on board when they departed Cuba. Nine were lost at sea.

“CIVIC-19 PANDEMIC?” 

The journey to the United States has been a long and treacherous one for many migrants. In order to reach their destination, they often have to cross the border illegally and risk being apprehended by U.S. authorities.

For many, this is a gamble they are willing to take in order to escape the poverty and violence of their home country.

In recent years, human trafficking has become a major issue in Central America. This has led many migrants into using smugglers for help in getting them across the border into the United States. Smugglers charge exorbitant fees that can be impossible for a migrant family living on poverty wages in Central America.

This also leads migrants who cannot afford these fees into debt bondage or slavery-like conditions where they are forced to work off their smuggling debt before they can go. This is a tragedy that has been ongoing for years without any end in sight.