Thread: FL:Illegal imm may still be at large after coming ashore

Illegal immigrants may still be at large after coming ashore on Jupiter Island
July 10, 2007

JUPITER ISLAND — Law enforcement officials are searching for additional illegal immigrants who might have come ashore early Monday morning with four Haitian nationals who were apprehended and turned over to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

As many as 12 immigrants might have been dropped off on the beach about 3 a.m., said Robert Swathwood, a patrol agent with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. This is the fifth time in the past year authorities have captured immigrants on the island — one of America's richest towns.

Four people — two women and two men — were apprehended near Hobe Sound Beach Park about 6 a.m., but another group of four to five people managed to hitch a ride in a pickup truck and flee the island, said Chief Ted J. Gonzales, of the Jupiter Island Department of Public Safety.

A Jupiter Island gardener reported seeing possibly another illegal immigrant, a woman in her mid to late 20s, on Gomez Road about 8:30 a.m., but she fled into the woods, Gonzales said.

The immigrants, believed to be of Haitian descent, were likely meeting up with friends or family members already living in the United States, Gonzales said.

About 1 p.m. Monday, his office stopped two people of interest on a side of Bridge Road as they drove away from the beach parking lot in a tan 1986 Mercedes-Benz. The man and woman told immigration officials they were on the island to pick up family members coming ashore on a boat and were worried about their fate, Gonzales said.

The car is registered to a Delray Beach resident named Jean David Romulus, 41.

Law enforcement officials are still investigating how the illegal immigrants came on shore, but it is believed their boat left West End, a village on Grand Bahama Island, about 10 p.m. Sunday, Swathwood said.

The only real clue the four people from the beach have provided is that the boat that transported them had two engines, Swathwood said.

"They're being very uncooperative," Swathwood said. "They don't want to describe the boat. They don't want to describe the smuggler."

Although most refugees on Jupiter Island merely are looking for a better life for themselves, Gonzales said, law enforcement officials must take all illegal landings seriously in case the smugglers are transporting narcotics or illegal firearms.

The ultra rich town is a frequent landing spot for boat captains smuggling immigrants from the Caribbean, who likely want to avoid more populated areas in Palm Beach and Miami to the south.

In the past year, three illegal immigrants have drowned off Jupiter Island while attempting to come ashore. A Bahamian boat captain named Rickey Thompson and his first mate, Leon Brice Johnson, are believed to have forced the immigrants off a boat at gunpoint and have been indicted on federal murder charges in connection to their deaths.

Roselyne Lubin and Alnert Charles, both Haitian nationals, died during one of Thompson and Johnson's alleged smu

http://www1.tcpalm.com/tcp/local_news/a ... 69,00.html

They probably used smugglers and the missing people had relatives present to pick them up right away. It doesn't take long to learn all this in Florida as the Cubans do this all the time. The only differenence is that they don't take off as they get processed in one hour on site and are allowed to stay.

Sure seems like a lot of trouble to go through to catch 6 illegals, who by all accounts are most likely only here to find a better life. It simply amazes me how aggressively they pursue, detain and deport Haitians while Mexicans can have multiple arrests and never get deported. It is so obvious that our govt has an agenda in regards to Mexico. Whenever there's a debate and there's a rule/law in place, you follow the rule/law or open yourself up to people who now have an excuse to act against you. "If you ain't mad yet, you ain't paying attention..."

I have read and heard on other blogs that 90% of those who work in immigration as well as Border Patrol are Hispanic. Now I am not sure if it at the national level of the state of Florida. If this is true then that is why you hear alot about groups of illegals from non Hispanic countries get deported even though their number are much smaller.

If someone has any printed information on that percentage of immigration and Border Patrol can you please email it to me. I always had reason to believe that there would be a large amount of Hispanics in those positions as you need to be at least bilingual.