A group of suspected migrants found off the coast of Miami last week are still in the custody of United States immigration authorities, and now, their family members are demanding officials let them go.
Four women died and 11 people were rescued after a boat weighed down by passengers capsized just seven miles east of Miami, the Associated Press reported. Both the captain and a crewman of the boat now face federal charges, while the remaining passengers are in the hands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Family members of the people who lived through the accident organized a media conference on Monday morning in Miami, urging authorities to let their next-of-kin walk free.
According to officials who spoke with the Associated Press, all of the survivors are of Haitian, Bahamian or Jamaican descent. The boat left from the Bahamas, and according to court documents obtained by AP, none of the passengers gained permission from the U.S. to enter waters.
After the group was discovered last Wednesday, Coast Guard officials expressed some worry over the amount of people on the boat.
"It was difficult to ascertain truly how many people were on this overloaded vessel," Chief Response Officer for the Miami Coast Guard Darren Caprara told the Miami Herald.
Caprara also added that the Coast Guard found one more survivor, along with the remains of the four victims, after turning the ship upright and out of the water.
"He was able to cling to life by finding an air pocket under the vessel," Caprara told the Miami Herald of the eleventh survivor.
