Turks and Caicos sees uptick in overcrowded Haitian boats trying to reach its shores

Immigration admin September 8, 2026 0 Comments

Turks and Caicos sees uptick in overcrowded Haitian boats trying to reach its shores

The Turks and Caicos Islands, a British overseas territory less than 100 miles from Haiti, is seeing an increase in Haitians trying to reach its sun bleached shores, with maritime police intercepting their third migrant vessel in less than a week.

The Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force said Tuesday that its Marine Branch had intercepted a small wooden boat carrying 93 undocumented Haitian migrants during a maritime border security operation. A day earlier, authorities intercepted another equally small and overcrowded canoe-like boat carrying more than 200 people. So far this year, 1,375 Haitians have attempted to enter the Turks and Caicos illegally.

“The vessel was detected and safely intercepted by RTCIPF officers before it could pose a risk to the safety of its occupants or the security of the Turks and Caicos Islands,” police said about Tuesday’s interception.

All 93 people were taken ashore without incident and were handed over to the Turks and Caicos Islands Border Force for processing and deportation to Haiti, authorities said.

The interception was the latest in a series in waters around the Turks and Caicos and the neighboring Bahamas.

The overcrowded fishing vessel that was intercepted in the early hours of Monday had 207 Haitians onboard, authorities said. Five days earlier, a joint operation involving several Turks and Caicos Islands agencies intercepted another overloaded boat with 171 Haitian migrants in the vicinity of Northwest Point, Providenciales.

That same day, authorities in The Bahamas intercepted a boat with 146 Haitians, according to the U.S. Embassy in Nassau. The U.S. Coast Guard had crews that assisted in the operation near Great Inagua, a southern Bahamian island northwest of the Turks and Caicos.

Surge in departures

The reason for the sudden upsurge remains unclear. But aid workers in Haiti say that large outbreaks of gang violence, particularly massacres like the one in Kenscoff, a community in the hills above Port-au-Prince, are not uncommon. Such attacks usually prompt Haitians to finally make the decision to risk their lives on the high seas.

In addition to gang attacks, Haiti is seeing a surge in kidnappings, with reports circulating Tuesday that a radio journalist, a senior government official and a prominent lawyer were abducted by armed gangs in the previous 72 hours.

On Monday, Volker Türk, the United Nations high commissioner for human rights, included Haiti among the countries that he continues to be concerned about in a global update to the Human Rights Council.

“I urge the United States to halt the return of people to places where they could suffer irreparable harm, including Haiti, and to ensure due process for all removals to third countries,” Türk said.

He also raised concerns about deaths at the hands of U.S. immigration authorities.

“Four more people have died in U.S. immigration custody since my last update to this Council, for a total of 23 deaths in 2026 alone,” Türk said. “There needs to be accountability for these deaths.”

Türk’s warnings come as Haiti continues to see displacements and deportations despite a record number of nearly 1.5 million gang-fleeing refugees and more than 6 million in need of humanitarian assistance. Already this year, the Dominican Republic has returned more than 200,000 Haitians back to their country, according to the U.N.

The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, is sending weekly deportation flights to Haiti since the U.S. Supreme Court recently cleared the way for the Trump administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status. The humanitarian program had allowed more than 300,000 Haitians to temporarily live and work in the United States without fear of being deported to their unstable homeland.

More than 2,600 people were recently displaced following the gang attacks in Kenscoff, according to a U.N. situation report. Cases of sexual violence against girls were also reported, the U.N. Population Fund said.

“Women and girls have been particularly affected by the crisis and face heightened risks of sexual violence in displacement sites, partly due to the poor living conditions and lack of adequate protection and services,” the report said.

Prior to the attack in Kenscoff, some 6,250 people had been forced to flee their homes by attacks that began on July 6 in the municipalities of Dessalines and Petite-Rivière, in Haiti’s Artibonite region.

On Sunday, armed gangs also launched an attack in a rural section of Arcahaie, which borders the Lower Artibonite and the West, where Port-au-Prince is located. A police officer assigned to a specialized unit was among those killed, the town’s mayor said Tuesday in a radio interview.

Humanitarian groups say they are struggling to reach people in need.

“Humanitarian access also remains a challenge and is impacting service provision in areas where there are risks of attacks and abductions of humanitarian workers,” the U.N. said.