Seven Charged With Smuggling Haitians

Seven people were charged Friday with smuggling 411 Haitian refugees to southern Florida in a case the prosecutor said was about “the exploitation of human misery.”

U.S. Atty. Kendall Coffey said six Haitian refugees were believed to have died during the voyage in a 65-foot wooden ship, which arrived off Miami on April 21.

“This case is about trafficking in human cargo and the exploitation of human misery,” Coffey said.

Unlike many other Haitian refugees, the 411 were allowed to be taken to an immigration processing center west of Miami. They were not shipped back to Haiti because the boat was too crowded, it lacked safety equipment and many of the refugees were sick, authorities said.