http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/palm-b ... 7584.story

Border Patrol picks up 18 people from boat that came ashore in Palm Beach
By Sonja Isger, The Palm Beach Post

9:50 p.m. EDT, June 9, 2010

Eighteen men and women — five from Haiti and 13 who are thought to be from the People's Republic of China — are in custody after coming ashore on Palm Beach before sunrise Wednesday, said U.S. Border Patrol officials.

The group walked up onto the beach near the Sloan's Curve Condominium at 2000 S. Ocean Blvd. where security staff saw their arrival on security cameras and called authorities, Palm Beach Police Capt. Jeff Trylch said.

They were carrying bags and were in a vacant lot on the west side of A1A when police found them, Trylch said.

It appears they were brought to shore illegally in a 24-foot boat that washed ashore after taking on water, polcie said. Authorities were searching for whoever piloted the boat Wednesday.

It is registered to Rolando Herrara Vega of Miami, Trylch said.

"As for the path that boat's taken, we don't know that yet," said U.S. Border Patrol Agent in Charge John Modlin.

The 18 people were processed at Border Patrol offices in Riviera Beach. Their ages had not been determined, but there were no young children in the group, Modlin said. Trylch said that the 13 Asians were five females and eight males, mostly young adults.

While Asian migrants have not recently been caught trying to illegally come ashore in South Florida, it is not the first time it has happened. In 1996, for example, in one week police intercepted two boats near Pompano Beach suspected of smuggling a group of seven and four Chinese migrants, respectively, into the U.S. from the Bahamas.