Over the last decade. the administrations policy of interdicting Haitian boat people has changed repeatedly. In 1981. the Reagan administration established the interdiction program. The program allowed the Coast Guard to stop and search private Haitian vessels thought to be transporting undocumented Haitians. Under the agreement. made with dictator JeanClaude Duvalier. passengers aboard these vessels were also allowed to be interrogated. Haiti is the only country with which the United Stares has such an alien migrant interdiction agreement. Between 1981 through 1990. 22.940 Haitians were interdicted. with the inteviewing process taking place aboard the boats of these desperate individuals. Oftentimes. the passengers were exhausted and staring from being at sea for several days. Most Haitians did not understand the purpose of the interview. As a result. only 11 Haitians qualified for asylum. A change in the interviewing policy in March 1991 by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS] led to more Haitians qualifying for asylum. The new policy explained the purpose of the interview and was conducted in private to allow those interdicted to speak more candidly. Between March 1991 and October 1991. 20 interdicted Haitians were allowed to apply for asylum. twice the number allowed in the previous 10 years.
Keywords matched
undocumented Immigration Naturalization migrant