Link to Article: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/3/7/boat-carrying-300-haitian-migrants-collapses-near-florida-coast
A boat that had over 300 migrants full of migrants from Haiti capsized off the coast of Florida. There have been no deaths reported. Many United States agencies believe that there was some manner of human smuggling happening. This is the second time this year that an unseaworthy boat has capsized when trying to bring Haitian migrants to the United States. Many migrants from Haiti have been trying to seek asylum in the United States since an earthquake devastated the country back in 2010. Many migrants try to cross the Mexican and United States border but an increasing number have tried to get into the United States by the sea.
This is not the first incident even this year of Haitian migrants trying to cross into the United States on unseaworthy ships and having to be rescued. Due to COVID many migrants to the United States have been deported and not had their claims to asylum reviewed. In September of 2021 over 15,000 Haitian migrants were turned away from the Mexican and United States border and deported back to Haiti. An increasing number of Haitian migrants are coming to the United States for job opportunities and to escape political instability. This leads these migrants to do many unsafe things such as voyaging on unsafe vessels to try and gain asylum in the United States.
Haiti is a country that is in political turmoil and civil unrest ever since an earthquake in 2010 destroyed a large portion of the country and killed almost 360,000 people. This could lead Haiti to become a failed state. This would cause a refugee crisis that would have many Haitians migrate to the United States and to their neighbor the Dominican Republic. This will lead the United Nations to get involved in the issue and the United Nations High Council for Refugees will have another refugee crisis to alleviate.