6 men arrested, boat siezed, illegal immigration suspected

February 22, 2010 5:17 PM
Peter Schaller

All 6 men detained are being interviewed by immigration officers in right now West Palm Beach. This dangerous trip to the U.S. almost went unnoticed, ut then this call stopped it all.



The caller said, "They seem to be Haitian or something, and they approached us but I couldn't understand what they were saying."



This 911 call came from a concerned woman in Sewell's point at around 6 in the morning. Deputies say she tipped them off to illegal immigrants who came ashore in the middle of the night.. Deputies quickly tracked down and arrested the 4 Haitians and 1 Cuban. Another man was arrested shortly afterward. We're told the men got off the boat on the north side of the Stuart causeway sometime between midnight and 1 in the morning. Just hours later they were spotted on the popular Martin County bridge. Border Patrol was called, and all of the men were handcuffed.



Neighbor Connie O'Connor said, "I just knew something was up because I saw all the border patrol cars."



Dputies found the boat in the Indian River Lagoon. 1 of the 6 men was seen running away from the boat. He was also arrested and turned over to immigration officers. Because of the wet foot dry foot policy, Cubans who make it to land are usually allowed to stay here in the U.S. but those same rules don't apply to Haitians


http://www.cbs12.com/news/immigration-4 ... ested.html