Bahamian hurricane survivors forced off ferry over U.S. visa issue

Hundreds of Hurricane Dorian survivors crowded into a ferry anchored in Freeport, Bahamas, on Sunday evening, after days on the sweltering islands with limited food, water and power. Just 21⁄ 2hours across the ocean, safety and relief waited in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Then, an announcement blared from the boat’s intercom.

“Please, all passengers that don’t have a U.S. visa, please proceed to disembark,” a crew member said in a video captured on board.

Since Dorian devastated the islands earlier this month, killing at least 44 people, hundreds of Bahamian refugees have reportedly come to the U.S. after going through a screening process with only a passport and proof of no criminal record. The more than 100 refugees forced to disembark Sunday night were baffled about why they were turned away.

“At the last minute like this, it’s kind of disappointing,” Renard Oliver, who held his infant daughter, told Brian Entin, a reporter for Miami TV station WSVN. “It’s hurtful because I’m watching my daughter cry, but it is what it is.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection, however, says no rules have changed and laid the blame on the ferry operator, identified by local reporters as Balearia Caribbean, for not properly co-ordinating with government officials. Balearia Caribbean did not immediately return a request for comment.

“CBP was notified of a vessel preparing to embark an unknown number of passengers in Freeport and requested that the operator of the vessel coordinate with U.S. and Bahamian government officials in Nassau before departing the Bahamas,” the agency said in a statement shared with the Washington Post late on Sunday.

A CBP official in Florida told WSVN that it was a “business decision” by Balearia to remove those without visas.

“If those folks did stay on the boat and arrived, we would have processed them, vetted them and … done what we had to do to facilitate them,” a CBP spokesperson said.

“They were not ordered off the boat by any U.S. government entity.”