Date: May 1, 2008

Contact: Public Affairs Staff
(305) 415-6683

Statement by Admiral David W. Kunkel, Commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District

MIAMI -- This week ends my two year tenure as commander of the Seventh Coast Guard District.  I leave my assignment knowing that my successor, Rear Adm. Steve Branham, will provide your community with the same devotion to duty and respect as I did.  Rest assured that each and every Coast Guardsman will work diligently to continue accomplishing our service's goals.

During my two-year command, Coast Guard crews from the Seventh District interdicted more than 12,000 undocumented migrants, seized more than 100,000 pounds of cocaine and marijuana bound for U.S. shores and responded to nearly 20,000 search-and-rescue cases.

We remain the nation's lead federal agency for Maritime Homeland Security and are charged with the daunting task of reducing terrorism-related risk in the maritime domain.  We have built solid relationships with our federal, state and local agencies which help us in accomplishing the awesome responsibility of regulation the ports and vessels at sea.

And, although we continue to save lives and property, stop illegal migration and protect the home front, it is with great sadness that we continue to witness death and tragedy involving Cuban, Haitian and Dominican Republic migrants who put their lives in the hands of malicious smugglers who lack compassion for life.

Our successes are overshadowed by death. In the last month alone, 36 migrants have perished at sea, most of which have not been found.  Less than six months ago, as many as 42 people from Perico, Cuba, are presumed dead, from a smuggler's 33-foot boat designed to carry no more than 15 people.  Despite our best efforts, no sign of that boat or its passengers have ever been located.

Migrants deaths are on the rise and it disheartens me that fathers and sons, mothers and daughters, aunts and uncles are dying unnecessarily.  They would all likely be alive today had they not chosen to trust their lives to organized criminals whose sole motive is profit.  As I depart after 37 years of service, my final plea to the community is that you help us put an end to these senseless tragedies by putting the illegal human traffickers out of business.

As I hand over the reigns of command, please know that your Coast Guard, alongside our federal, state and local law enforcement partners, are more committed than ever to protecting life at sea and our nation's maritime borders.  Semper Paratus!

Sincerely,

D.W. Kunkel
Rear Admiral, U.S. Coast Guard

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