Article: https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-dominican-republic-puerto-rico-us-coast-guard-64f2709a131067c4cceafe7ba9fd1947
On Tuesday, December 13th, the US Coast Guard reported that it rescued 34 Haitian migrants off the uninhabited Monito Island. In the second incident of this nature within a month, the Coast Guard engaged in a five hour rescue operation involving the 26 men, seven women, and one boy jumping into the treacherous waters with swells up to 15 feet high to reach a waiting Coast Guard vessel. The migrants were discovered after employees at Puerto Rico’s Department of Natural Resources sighted several small fires on the island. The Haitian migrants became stranded on the island in an attempt to flee the poverty and instability of their country, and they are among the many who have fled across the border to the Dominican Republic, and paid smugglers to ferry them to Puerto Rico only to be abandoned halfway on islands like Monito. Many of these migrants are transferred back to their home countries by US border control agents upon being picked up.
It is unclear why migrants have been repeatedly abandoned by smugglers mid route or what actions will be taken to permanently stop this behavior in the future, but the larger issue at hand is undoubtedly the situations that the migrants were attempting to flee from and their potential inability to escape those circumstances. This narrative is nothing new, citizens of war torn countries all over the globe and throughout history have fled in search of a better life, however it is quite concerning that these people are being dumped in the middle of rough waters by smugglers. Realistically, this recurring issue will need to be addressed, and this will likely mean some kind of communication between Haiti, the United States, and Puerto Rico. This could escalate into something that creates tension in Haiti in particular because of possible government actions, like cracking down on smugglers or having stricter border control measures, and because of possible actions of the people, like seeking other regions to flee to or protesting. I also believe that this situation will be addressed by the involved countries because, in short, the US Coast Guard has been involved and will most likely want to address an issue they have dealt with on repeated occasions.
In International Relations, we have discussed the development of different states, and how many factors can play into a state’s actions and overall position on the global stage. In this case, Haiti is lower on the socio economic scale and doesn’t have a lot of power in the grand scheme of things, and is in general just on the more impoverished side, so that is playing into the refugees leaving the country, even if that means facing danger. In addition, there is a lot of conflict and instability in the region that Haiti is located within, so the dangers at home for many of its citizens are pushing them to leave. Because Haiti doesn’t have a lot of power or leverage on the world stage, they are struggling to support their citizens, and can’t do the things wealthier and more influential countries can to better their internal affairs because of this.