Thread: 10 smuggling suspects arrested off Key West coast

10 smuggling suspects arrested off Key West coast
Posted on Thu, May. 08, 2008

U.S. authorities detained 10 suspected alien smugglers piloting boats off the South Florida coast in a period of 24 hours, the Coast Guard announced Wednesday.

The Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection air and marine crews intercepted the suspected smugglers between Miami and Key West, the Coast Guard said.

The smugglers were detected by routine patrols, said a Coast Guard spokeswoman, Petty Officer Jennifer Johnson.

Johnson was unable to provide any details, including the number or nationality of passengers or the number of boats involved.

The cases are under investigation by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.

The arrests come amid a crackdown by federal authorities on migrants smugglers operating between Florida and the Caribbean, especially Cuba.

On Tuesday, U.S. prosecutors in Miami announced the indictment in Key West of 23 Florida men in 12 separate cases on charges of attempting to smuggle in more than 200 Cubans.

www.miamiherald.com

what burns my backside.. for every 1 they catch, 10 get through.... they hit land on Captiva or Sanibel Island in peoples back yard by the boat load and they turn themselves in to the Authoritys... well they have too, to collect the 10,000 dollars under the wet foot dry foot policy. They then head to Miami and start jobs as prostitutes or pushing drugs because there are no real jobs out there

Well, under the table stuff.... Employers no longer want to pay Americans a decent salary when they have the IA hoard for slave labor

whodathunkit

No! The Cubans do not become drug pushers or hookers. Most have some type of family in South Florida and they go to them and get jobs in the Latin community.

The shame of this is that the illegal Dominican or Colombian gets deported from south Florida, if caught, while the Cuban gets asylum and special status. Dominican or Cuban, both from poor island nations looking for money. Why do we know that all the poor boys in the Domincan Republic are playing baseball? To get to the ligas grandes de beisbol and make $10 million a year like Pedro Mets pitcher whatever his name is? Martinez?

a 90 mile run in a speed boat from Cuba to South Florida at $5,000 a head with 10 Cubans. $50,000 easy money tax free...if you don't get caught!

Coast Guard Nabs 10 Smugglers in a Day
May 07, 2008
U.S. Coast Guard|by PA1 Jennifer Johnson
MIAMI - Coast Guard and Custom and Border Protection Air and Marine crews working in tandem along Florida's coastlines have intercepted 10 suspected smugglers from Key West, Fla., to Miami during the last 24 hours and will transfer those individuals to CBP Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement investigators for further questioning.

The Southern District of Florida U.S. Attorney's Office has indicted 41 smugglers, including 23 announced Tuesday and sentenced two migrant smugglers April 21, each to five years of imprisonment for attempted smuggling of individuals into the United States for purposes of commercial advantage or private financial gain.

Of the 10 suspected smugglers detained throughout the night, one was a parolee in which he had no adjusted status as a legal primary resident. Three suspected smugglers had status as legal permanent residents, one of which was stopped last month for smuggling attempts into the U.S. ICE agents are currently investigating the cases.

In the last month alone, 36 migrants have perished at sea. Less than six months ago, as many as 42 people leaving Cuba on a smuggling boat are presumed dead. Despite our best efforts, no sign of that boat or its passengers have ever been located.

"As a deterrence to these criminal ventures, the Coast Guard will continue to work closely with other U.S. agencies, including the U.S. Attorney's office, to investigate, identify and prosecute those involved in human smuggling and hold them accountable for their dangerous and criminal actions," said Capt. William Lee, chief of staff for the Seventh Coast Guard District.


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