Bahamas to return migrants to quake-ravaged Haiti

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SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) - The Bahamian prime minister says more than five dozen Haitians who were detained as they sailed through the Bahamas over the weekend will be sent back to their earthquake-damaged country.

The Bahamas has made it easier for Haitian immigrants already in the country to stay since last month's earthquake. But Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham says the government will not change its policy toward undocumented migrants found at sea. He says the Bahamas already has a higher percentage of Haitian migrants than any other country and "cannot absorb Haiti's population."

Haiti lies south of the Bahamas, and the magnitude 7.0 quake raised fears of a mass migration out of the desperately poor country.

The prime minister says government ships encountering seaworthy migrant vessels in the future will simply escort them back to Haiti.

The U.S. Coast Guard says its ships will also be available to repatriate migrants if needed, but none have been encountered yet.