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Videos circulating social media show a cruise line headed for the Bahamas picking up a boatload of stranded migrants on their way to the U.S.
Journalist Angela Van Der Pluym said she was enjoying her cruise with Virgin Voyages when the ship happened upon boatloads of “refugees.”
“While on my Virgin Voyages cruise, we were forced to stop and pick up random refugees because of ‘maritime law,’” she tweeted Saturday, including several videos of the migrant boat docked alongside the cruise ship.
While on my Virgin Voyages cruise, we were forced to stop and pick up random refugees because of “maritime law.” So, now they will enjoy a free cruise to the Bahamas and back to good ol’ Florida. Aka America.
— Angela Van Der Pluym (@AngelaVdp90) December 31, 2022
Van Der Pluym went on to claim that the migrants will now “enjoy a free cruise” to America by way of the Bahamas.
“So, now they will enjoy a free cruise to the Bahamas and back to good ol’ Florida. Aka America,” she added.
Here’s all the new refugees entering our cruise!! https://t.co/DjiRnWfbxZ pic.twitter.com/T0MH7p4HBG
— Angela Van Der Pluym (@AngelaVdp90) January 1, 2023
Maritime law states that mariners are required to help distressed boaters at sea, according to the International Maritime Organization.
“The IMO explicitly states this requirement in its International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea: ‘A master of a ship at sea, which is in a position to be able to provide assistance on receiving a signal from any source that persons are in distress at sea, is bound to proceed with all speed to their assistance,’” according to SeaLaw.com.
Unfortunately, it appears economic migrants from all over the world are exploiting this law.
In fact, seaborne migration has surged since Biden captured the White House, according to The New York Times:
The makeshift boatlifts, carrying migrants from countries all over the world, present an unexpected and fresh challenge for the Biden administration, which was already facing a substantial increase in unauthorized crossings on the southern land border with Mexico.
The Coast Guard at times has intercepted more than 100 Cubans, Dominicans and Haitians crammed into a single boat in choppy Florida waters. On the other side of the country, smuggling networks have ferried loads of undocumented immigrants from Yemen, Mexico and Central America, sailing from Mexico to Southern California.
Experts attributed the surge in sea smuggling to beefed-up land-border enforcement combined with shrinking opportunities in developing countries stemming from the coronavirus pandemic.
So far, over 5 million illegal aliens have crossed into the U.S. since Biden took office.