The U.S. Coast Guard repatriates 531 Haitian migrants, as federal authorities decide to send back 21 others on a ship the captain says was hijacked.

BY JACQUELINE CHARLES

Despite the deepening political chaos and violence in Port-au-Prince, the U.S. Coast Guard on Friday dropped more than 500 Haitian migrants onto the docks of the capital city, holding firm to the Bush administration's policy of repatriating Haitians picked up at sea.

At the same time the Coast Guard was sending back those migrants, federal authorities in Miami were deciding to return to the island the 21 Haitians intercepted on the freighter Margot off Miami on Wednesday.

The ship's captain said he was hijacked at gunpoint by men who said they were police officers and government officials. But the U.S. attorney's office in Miami announced without elaboration that it would not bring charges against anyone.

The Bush administration says its repatriation policy is necessary to deter an exodus. But immigrant advocates stepped up their criticism of the deportations.

'The message to Haitians is clear: 'Haitians, your lives don't count,' '' said Cheryl Little, an immigration attorney and executive director of the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center. "At the same time that we are urging U.S. citizens to immediately leave Haiti and we are sending in Marines to protect the embassy, we are repatriating Haitians without due process to a country with no rule of law.''

Sen. Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat, said Friday that any Haitians picked up at sea ''should be given the opportunity to apply for refugee status'' because of dangers they would face if returned home.

The 531 Haitians repatriated Friday were among more than 560 U.S.-bound migrants picked up from 13 boats by the Coast Guard in the Windward Passage between Haiti and Cuba.

Immigration officials continue to interview the remaining 15 to see if they have credible fears of persecution.

Meanwhile in Jamaica, where 103 Haitians have arrived in recent days, the government is refusing to send anyone back.

''We cannot return them to Haiti in the present environment of upheaval and mayhem,'' said Donovan Nelson, a spokesman with Jamaica's Ministry of National Security.

Both Coast Guard and other U.S. government officials continued to maintain Friday that while the latest boatloads are ''a surge'' in the number of migrants fleeing by boat from Haiti, they are not an indication of a mass migration.

During the same period last year, the Coast Guard picked up 158 Haitians at sea, said Lt. Cmdr. Jeff Carter, a spokesman with the agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

''We fully expect that if Haitians put to sea in an attempt to illegally enter the United States, they will be interdicted, and unless they have a valid claim for asylum will be returned to their country of origin,'' Carter said.

In the case of the freighter Margot, Barbara Gonzalez, a Miami spokeswoman with the Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, would say only, ``We did not find enough warranting prosecution.''

Matthew Dates, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office in Miami, said prosecutors decided late Friday not to pursue criminal charges against anyone aboard the Margot. In addition to the 21 Haitians, the freighter carried seven Filipino crew members.

Everyone will be repatriated to Haiti, Dates said.

While prosecutors declined to discuss the underlying reasons for sending the Margot back, it is fairly common for prosecutors to pass on migration cases where there are conflicting stories.

Herald staff writers Larry Lebowitz and Frank Davies contributed to this report.