Pausing, he pointed at a 45-foot-long Haitian boat, flecked with dull orange rust, its upper deck crowded with bicycles covered by a flapping canvas.

Officials say that countrywide, recent reconnaissance suggests that about 1,200 Haitian boats are available or nearing readiness to attempt the voyage to the United States.

In 1994 waves of Haitian and Cuban boat people fled their homelands for the U.S.

The Haitian boats measured only 25 to 30 feet, but one was carrying 105 refugees.

The United States, through a treaty with the Haitian Government, has permission to interdict only Haitian boats.

Thai officials draw comparisons to American interdiction of Haitian boats or the turning back of Mexicans.

With a police boat on the scene in rough waters, the Haitian boat went over on its side.

Coast Guard officials announced today that seven of the recently intercepted Haitian boats carried more than 100 people.

Rescuers pulled 25 Haitians and 2 Americans who had boarded the Haitian boat from the water.

The Haitian boats are burned and sunk and the refugees are taken right back to Haiti.