More than 300 migrants from Haiti were rescued by the US Coast Guard on Saturday off the coast of Florida after the boat they were traveling in ran aground off Key Largo.
Coast Guard and Border Patrol agents responded to the scene to assist the vessel.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) took custody of 113 migrants who jumped into the water.
While the Coast Guard held the other 200 who remained on the boat, Slosar said.
[They will not send the National Guard to Washington DC for the migrants sent by Texas]
“We are working to keep them safe, clean, fed and healthy,” tweeted Agent Walter N. Slosar, CBP Sector Chief.
Authorities are investigating the case as an alleged human trafficking operation to the United States.
Haitian migrants jump into the water after the Coast Guard found their boat grounded in Key Largo, Florida, on August 6, 2022.Coast Guard
"This is an ongoing investigation and we are trying to identify the smugglers who herded these people onto the boat," Slosar said.
Thousands of Haitians have fled their country in recent months to try to emigrate to the United States, many of them through the dangerous Caribbean Sea route.
Two weeks ago, 17 Haitians died when the boat they were traveling in capsized in the Bahamas due to bad weather.
Authorities from that country managed to rescue more than two dozen people who were found clinging to the hull of the overturned boat in the middle of the night.
US agencies warn against traveling to the US by sea to try to enter illegally, as hundreds of people die each year trying