A third exodus of Haitian migrants occurred in 1993-1994. Coast Guard surge operations in 1994 were effective in countering the mass Haitian and Cuban migrations. Statistics and intelligence reports for 1997 indicate that we created a deterrent effect not only in the Mona Passage, but in other areas of illegal maritime migration as well. There were increases in Cuban and Haitian interdictions in 1998. The increase in Cuban interdictions was mainly due to an increase in flow that was primarily driven by more aggressive professional smuggling.
Haitian interdictions can vary greatly depending upon the size of the vessel used in transportation.
For example, it is not uncommon for the Coast Guard to interdict 60-foot, wooden Haitian freighters with up to 500 migrants onboard. Over the last several years, a large portion of Haitian migrant vessels have shifted their routes from landing directly on U.S. shores to island-hopping through the Bahamas. Once in the Bahamas, the Haitians are professionally smuggled the short distance to Florida in small groups, on a variety of pleasure craft that are difficult to detect as they mix in with the legitimate boating public. As stated earlier, most migrants interdicted by the Coast Guard are not brought into the U.S. and are repatriated to the country from which they originally departed. Although the U.S. currently has no formal repatriation agreement with the Dominican Republic, in all cases the Government of the Dominican Republic has allowed repatriation of migrants.