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American Morning

Unlikely 200 Haitian Who Jumped Ship Will be Allowed to Stay

Aired October 30, 2002 - 09:16   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR; They crowded into a wooden freighter and then spent eight days at sea to reach the U.S., but it's unlikely that the 200 Haitian who jumped from their ship and rushed ashore yesterday in Florida will be allowed to stay there. Many believe that eventually they'll be sent back to their poverty-stricken homeland.
Our Mark Potter is covering the story. He joins us now live from Dade County, Florida -- Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

We're at the Comb Avenue Immigrant Processing Center, where most of the Haitian were brought last night after they jumped off the boat. They were brought here for INS processing. A few of them went to local hospitals; 21 are still on a Coast Guard cutter. Probably the best news we can report is that there were no fatalities yesterday, even though that was a very potentially dangerous situation.

Now, yesterday around mid-afternoon, some 220 Haitian, who were crammed aboard a 50-foot wooden coastal freighter, began jumping overboard after the boat ran aground just 20 yards south of the bridge connecting Miami and Key Biscayne. Men, women and children made a desperate rush to shore. Some fell into deep water and couldn't swim and had to be rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.

After they reached the Causeway (ph) Bridge, many of the Haitian began running through traffic, some of them seeking rides from motorists. Police and federal authorities converged on the scene and were quickly able to round up most of the Haitians. Some, they suspect, got away in cars. Those in detention will now be questioned about details of the trip and about whether they qualify to apply for asylum. Haitian advocates are urging federal officials to treat the immigrants fairly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS OTTINOT, HAITIAN LAWYER ASSOC.: Our main concern is that we want Haitian refugees to be treated the same as the other refugees. Other refugees are released upon the following of asylum application. Haitian refugees should have the same right. They should be treated the same under the law, not treated differently obviously because of their skin color.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Last night, a group Of Haitian and immigrant advocates held a protest outside the Miami INS headquarters, claiming that Haitian are discriminated against by U.S. policymakers. Advocates say most of the immigrants will be sent back to Haiti. This morning, three attorneys from the Haitian lawyer's association tried to meet with the detainees, but said they were turned away by authorities, who said they are now conducting a criminal investigation. One official told us that they are looking into this as an immigrant-smuggling case.

Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: Mark, let me ask you something. It's a question that comes to mind immediately when you consider just how sensitive this nation is right now security-wise. How is it this boat was able to make it all the way to the shore like that without anybody actually seeing it. Was the Coast Guard aware of this ship early on or what?

POTTER: Well, that's an important question that's being investigated this morning. Yes, the Coast Guard was aware of it, but as the boat got pretty close to that bridge, a buoy tender boat essentially spotted the boat and radioed it in, but it was already pretty close to the bridge and had gotten past Key Biscayne, and so that question is being investigated, how, with all the concerns over security, did that boat with so many people aboard get that close to shore. All of this happened within view of the downtown skyline. So that is indeed being looked into.

HARRIS: All right. Thank you very much, Mark. Mark Potter, reporting live for us this morning from Dade County, Florida.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




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Aired October 30, 2002 - 09:16   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR; They crowded into a wooden freighter and then spent eight days at sea to reach the U.S., but it's unlikely that the 200 Haitian who jumped from their ship and rushed ashore yesterday in Florida will be allowed to stay there. Many believe that eventually they'll be sent back to their poverty-stricken homeland.
Our Mark Potter is covering the story. He joins us now live from Dade County, Florida -- Mark.

MARK POTTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Leon.

We're at the Comb Avenue Immigrant Processing Center, where most of the Haitian were brought last night after they jumped off the boat. They were brought here for INS processing. A few of them went to local hospitals; 21 are still on a Coast Guard cutter. Probably the best news we can report is that there were no fatalities yesterday, even though that was a very potentially dangerous situation.

Now, yesterday around mid-afternoon, some 220 Haitian, who were crammed aboard a 50-foot wooden coastal freighter, began jumping overboard after the boat ran aground just 20 yards south of the bridge connecting Miami and Key Biscayne. Men, women and children made a desperate rush to shore. Some fell into deep water and couldn't swim and had to be rescued by the U.S. Coast Guard.

After they reached the Causeway (ph) Bridge, many of the Haitian began running through traffic, some of them seeking rides from motorists. Police and federal authorities converged on the scene and were quickly able to round up most of the Haitians. Some, they suspect, got away in cars. Those in detention will now be questioned about details of the trip and about whether they qualify to apply for asylum. Haitian advocates are urging federal officials to treat the immigrants fairly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HANS OTTINOT, HAITIAN LAWYER ASSOC.: Our main concern is that we want Haitian refugees to be treated the same as the other refugees. Other refugees are released upon the following of asylum application. Haitian refugees should have the same right. They should be treated the same under the law, not treated differently obviously because of their skin color.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POTTER: Last night, a group Of Haitian and immigrant advocates held a protest outside the Miami INS headquarters, claiming that Haitian are discriminated against by U.S. policymakers. Advocates say most of the immigrants will be sent back to Haiti. This morning, three attorneys from the Haitian lawyer's association tried to meet with the detainees, but said they were turned away by authorities, who said they are now conducting a criminal investigation. One official told us that they are looking into this as an immigrant-smuggling case.

Leon, back to you.

HARRIS: Mark, let me ask you something. It's a question that comes to mind immediately when you consider just how sensitive this nation is right now security-wise. How is it this boat was able to make it all the way to the shore like that without anybody actually seeing it. Was the Coast Guard aware of this ship early on or what?

POTTER: Well, that's an important question that's being investigated this morning. Yes, the Coast Guard was aware of it, but as the boat got pretty close to that bridge, a buoy tender boat essentially spotted the boat and radioed it in, but it was already pretty close to the bridge and had gotten past Key Biscayne, and so that question is being investigated, how, with all the concerns over security, did that boat with so many people aboard get that close to shore. All of this happened within view of the downtown skyline. So that is indeed being looked into.

HARRIS: All right. Thank you very much, Mark. Mark Potter, reporting live for us this morning from Dade County, Florida.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com




Stay>