Five Americans are facing prison sentences of up to 12 years in the Turks and Caicos Islands on charges they illegally carried ammunition during recent trips to the popular, upscale tourist destination about 600 miles (965 km) southeast of Miami.
Three of the arrests have prompted pleas for mercy from the governors of Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Virginia. In a letter Tuesday to the islands’ governor, they said the three men charged from their states maintained they inadvertently took ammunition with them on vacation. They did not have firearms.
“The punishment here is just absurd,” Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt told NewsNation’s “Morning in America” during an appearance on May 7. He suggested the U.S. consider banning travel to the islands.
Here’s a look at the arrests and their fallout:
WHO ARE THE FIVE PEOPLE FACING CHARGES?
One of the men, Ryan Tyler Watson, of Oklahoma, went to the Turks and Caicos with his wife and other couples to celebrate several people’s 40th birthdays, his sister, Jessica Byrd, said on a GoFundMe page she set up to raise money for his legal defense.