Thread: CBP apprehends 32 Haitians that landed in Monito

CBP apprehends 32 Haitians that landed in Monito

Release Date:
October 16, 2014

Smugglers disdain puts 32 lives in a dangerous island even with Hurricane Gonzalo lurking

AGUADILLA, Puerto Rico –US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Border Patrol Agents apprehended Wednesday morning 32 undocumented Haitian migrants that landed Monday afternoon in Monito Island.

Border Patrol Ramey Sector Communications Room received notification Monday afternoon from the U. S. Coast Guard (USCG) Sector San Juan after one of their air assets observed approximately thirty-five subjects stranded on Monito Island.

USCG removed a group of 32 undocumented Haitians, 25 males and 7 females, from the treacherous Monito Island to the adjacent Mona Island after a favorable weather forecast was issued.

A combined Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG) effort by CBP Office Air and Marine and USCG assets transported the group Wednesday morning to the Mayaguez port where Border Patrol Agents acquired custody for immigration processing.

“Smugglers take advantage of the ignorance and vulnerability of migrants to leave them stranded in inhabited islands, even when there is a hurricane watch,” said Ramiro Cerrillo, Chief Patrol Agent for the CBP Ramey Border Patrol Sector. “Even first responders place themselves in harm’s way as well while rescuing the migrants from these treacherous conditions.”

After processing Border Patrol Agents transferred custody to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Enforcement Removal Operations Special Agents for expedited removal of the migrants.

The illegal maritime smuggling ventures arriving to Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic are ordinarily transported in rustic, homemade wooden vessels commonly referred to as "yolas." A typical “yola” is an unsafe vessel, generally underpowered with a single outboard motor, and overloaded with a large number of passengers and without life vests. Every year CBP receives both confirmed and unconfirmed reports of aliens drowning while in transit to United States territory.

Eighty miles separate the Dominican Republic from Puerto Rico. At the approximate mid-point lies the island of Mona, an uninhabited island that is a United States territory. MonitoIsland is an uninhabited, inaccessible by sea, barren Island about 5 kilometers northwest of the much larger Mona Island.

Migrant smugglers in the Dominican Republic strategically navigate to and use Mona Island as a drop off point for migrants who must then be recovered from Mona and transported to Puerto Rico by CBP or USCG air or marine assets.

The Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG) was formally created to unify efforts of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the United States Attorney's Office for the District of Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rico Police Joint Rapid Action Forces (FURA, for its Spanish acronym), in their common goal of securing the Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands borders against illegal migrant and drug smuggling.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.

http://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/local-me...-landed-monito

Haiti - Social : Over 100 Haitians deported every day at the border

15/10/2014 12:12:17

An officer of the "Cuerpo Especializado de Seguridad Fronteriza Terrestre" (CESFRONT) indicated that only in the province of Dajabón every day between 100 and 150 Haitians trying to enter illegally in Dominican territory, are returned to Haiti. In the last 30 days, more than 3,100 of our countrymen have made the unfortunate experience...

This military source explained that there was a lot of confusion and misinformation in Haiti about the National Plan of Regularization of Foreigners (PNRE), rumors suggest that all foreigners living illegally and their children will have Dominican citizenship...

This source said that many migrants were pregnant women, who entered illegally, give birth to José María Cabral and Báez hospital of Santiago, in an effort to recognize their children as Dominican citizens. Recalling that last Thursday, members of the 2nd Brigade of the army, arrested in the community of Capilla de Navarrete (Santiago Province) 48 undocumented people of Haitian descent, whose 12 of them were women, most of whom were pregnant.

It is good to remember that the PNRE applies only foreigners (all countries), living illegally in the Dominican Republic BEFORE the Constitutional Tribunal judgment 168-13 (TC) [sept.2013] and these foreigners, will not only have to prove that he resided in the Dominican Republic well before that date, but also meet several other criteria, to which most Haitians in irregular situations, are unable to meet...

See also :
http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-11...-haitians.html

http://www.haitilibre.com/en/news-12...he-border.html