Royal Bahamas Defence Force Commander Commodore Raymond E. King , center, said migrant apprehensions dropped by 37% in 2024. Meanwhile, the U.S. Coast Guard in January 2025 announced a surge of assets to deter illegal migration in the region. ROYAL BAHAMAS DEFENCE FORCE
The Bahamas saw a marked decrease in migrant apprehensions in its sprawling territory of sea lanes and islands in 2024, the country’s top military official said in January 2025. Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) Commander Commodore Raymond E. King said migrant detentions had decreased by 37% over the previous year, a significant reversal of migrant traffic through the island nation. Last year’s decrease was the second straight year of falling migration arrests in the Bahamas, totaling 2,019 compared with 3,201 in 2023. By contrast, the RBDF apprehended 4,313 migrants in 2022.
In recent months, the RBDF has seen an uptick in the movement of Haitian migrants, especially in transit toward the Turks and Caicos Islands (TCI) in recent months, King said. He noted that the U.S. Coast Guard had intercepted 112 Cuban migrants in nine separate incidents on the Cal Say Banks, an isolated groups of uninhabited islets and tiny outcroppings far from the rest of the Bahamas and close to Cuba. “The number of Cubans attempting to reach the U.S. via the Cay Sal Banks have increased significantly during December 2024 and January 2025 to date,” King said, according to the newspaper.
Violent unrest in Haiti has challenged the RBDF’s mission to deter illegal migration through the dangerous maritime conditions of the southeastern approaches to the U.S. In March 2024, King announced a naval blockade in the southern areas of the Bahamas to deter Haitian migrants fleeing deteriorating conditions, including a mass prison outbreak. Haitian migration has been a security concern in the Caribbean region since the 2021 assassination of Prime Minister Jovenel Moise. The unrest that followed his death has led thousands of Haitians to make perilous voyages in overcrowded vessels that often sail through Bahamian waters. The Bahamas enforced the blockade with assistance from the TCI and the U.S. Coast Guard.
More recently, Adm. Kevin Lunday, Coast Guard acting commandant, ordered all operational commanders to “immediately surge assets,” including cutters, boats, helicopters and planes and specialized teams beginning with “key areas,” according to a January 2025 news release.
Among the areas of concern are the southeast maritime border approaching Florida; the maritime borders between the Bahamas and South Florida and between Texas and Mexico in the Gulf of Mexico; the southwest maritime border between the U.S. and Mexico in the Pacific; and the maritime borders surrounding Alaska, American Samoa, Guam, Hawaii, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Crews also will assist Customs and Border Protection in maritime portions of the U.S. southwest border, the release said.
“We are unable to provide specific details on the number of personnel and their exact locations to ensure operational security and the safety of our crews; however, we remain fully operational and committed to the mission,” a Coast Guard spokesperson told the South-Florida Sun Sentinel.