Thread: Refugees who landed on Sanibel released, expected to stay in

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Refugees who landed on Sanibel released, expected to stay in U.S.
By Julio Ochoa, Charlie Whitehead

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Seventeen Cubans who landed on Sanibel Island early Sunday were processed and released by border protection officials on Monday, and the two men who are believed to have smuggled them out of Cuba remained in federal custody.

The question of whether Sunday's Sanibel landing and Monday's arrival of 28 Cuban refugees on the shore near Gordon Drive in Naples' Port Royal community are part of a trend is a matter of opinion.

U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer First Class Tasha Tully said she couldn't speculate on whether transport times, weather or other factors brought two boatloads of Cubans to the Southwest Florida coast this weekend. Speaking at the Fort Myers Beach Coast Guard station, the public affairs specialist said it's just a coincidence that the landings happened a day apart.

"There have been several landings, but it does not constitute a trend," Tully said.

But Sanibel police Major Michael Murray sees it differently.

"Obviously, it is becoming a problem," Murray said. "We've had two (on Sanibel) in the two calendar years, and there was the one in Naples today. It seems to be a trend."

On Sanibel, news of Sunday's landing arrived in the form of a 9-1-1 call that came in to the city's police department at 6:57 a.m.

"An individual in the 3900 block of West Gulf Drive said there were 15 or 20 individuals on the beach asking for assistance, obviously not in good English," Murray said. "Officers responded and right away we knew we had more than a call for assistance."

The Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection were called immediately, Murray said. Within minutes a 25-foot Coast Guard patrol boat snuck up on a 33-foot "go-fast" boat near mile marker 101 at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River.

"We call them go-fast vessels," Tully said. "They're specifically designed to outmaneuver and outrun law enforcement agencies."

It didn't work this time. Doug Molloy, chief federal prosecutor for the Fort Myers district, said when the Coast Guard snuck up on the smugglers' boat they had not yet had a chance to wipe fingerprints off.

"Usually the first thing smugglers do is wipe down the boat for fingerprints," Molloy said. "They had distilled vinegar and stuff to wipe it down with. They caught them before they could."

Meanwhile, the Sanibel police had called medics to check the refugees' health. Murray said they were fed and on their way to a Border Patrol facility in Pembroke Pines by about 11 a.m. According to Border Protection spokesman Victor Colon they were processed — fingerprints and backgrounds checked — and released. Under America's "wet foot, dry foot" policy they must appear before an immigration judge, but will likely remain.

Reports differ, but Murray said there were 12 adults and five children ranging age from 8 to 17, including an 8 year-old girl. Murray also said the adults first claimed they'd been dropped off around 2 a.m. — an apparent attempt to let the smugglers slip away — but the children told a different story.

Slightly more than 15 minutes later, the two men were in custody. One has been arrested previously for human smuggling, the other for smuggling drugs. The boat, equipped with large twin engines, was being processed for evidence Monday afternoon.

"We will indict if we're able to get physical evidence," Molloy said.

That evidence likely will be fingerprints of the smuggled aliens. Molloy said witnesses who actually saw the arrival are also being interviewed.

The Coast Guard and Border Patrol had a busy weekend. The agencies apprehended 102 Cubans who entered the U.S. at six different landings in South Florida.

This was the second landing on Sanibel in 16 months. In July 2005, 19 Cuban refugees waded ashore on the affluent island after a 14-hour ride.

Smugglers charge as much as $10,000 for a ride from Cuba to Florida. Tully said smuggling is highly illegal and highly dangerous.

"These smugglers don't care about the people they have on the boat," she said. "In the past they have thrown people overboard to avoid the police."

Southwest Florida may be seeing an increase in Cuban immigrants on its shores because it is easier to get out of the communist country than it was years ago, said Isivro Crespo, a Cuban American who lives in Bonita Springs.

Crespo first tried to make it to America in a private boat in 1979. Cuban authorities caught him about 12 miles off Cuba's coast and he spent the next nine years in jail.

When he got out, he tried again and was successful.

"I think now it is easier than it was years ago," Crespo said.

Cuban authorities may have eased their patrols and those looking to escape can now hire a smuggler to bring them in a high-powered boat, Crespo said.

"In 1979 nobody came like that," he said. "You crossed in something that you made in your home."

Miguel Fernandez has seen firsthand how conditions have continued to worsen in Cuba. Fernandez, an attorney in Fort Myers, came to the United States when he was 5 years old.

He has returned twice in the past three years. He believes more people will continue to try to get out because conditions continue to get worse in Cuba.

"I don't think they are leaving because of the decline in Castro's health," Fernandez said. "It's the continuing deplorable conditions that exist in Cuba that drive them to leave the country."

Eduardo Cruz, a teacher in Naples, agrees. Cruz left Cuba in 1998 when his wife was granted a visa.

"It's been 47 years under that regime," Cruz said. "People are looking for ways to get out."

The recent influx of Cuban immigrants to Southwest Florida's shores underscores the need for tighter borders along the coast, local activists said Monday.

"We don't have the proper personnel in place to combat this invasion," said Russell Landry, president of Citizens Against Illegal Aliens, a Fort Myers-based anti-illegal immigration group.

The Coast Guard needs more resources to patrol hundreds of miles of coastline in Southwest Florida because word is spreading that it is easy to infiltrate the area's porous borders, Landry said.

And once construction on a fence at the Mexican/American border is complete, more illegal immigrants will turn to Florida, he said.

"We're going to start to see it come here to our coastal waters and on land where barrier islands are most accessible," Landry said. "We're going to start to see a need for land border patrol agents here."

The U.S. government should also reconsider its immigration policy for Cubans, said Tony Maida, co-founder of Americans Standing Tall, a Cape Coral-based anti-illegal immigration group.

The so-called "wet foot, dry foot" policy gives Cuban immigrants amnesty if they make it to dry land but sends them back to Cuba if they are caught on the water.

"I think it's a wrong policy because these people enter our country illegally," said Miada said. "If that applies to Cubans then are we being discriminatory to the rest of the illegal aliens from around the world? They should have the same policy across the board for everybody or nothing."

© 2006 Naples Daily News and NDN Productions. Published in Naples, Florida, USA by the E.W. Scripps Co.

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5 children among Cuban refugees at Sanibel
By Charlie Whitehead

Originally published — 10:21 a.m., November 13, 2006
Updated — 12:25 p.m., November 13, 2006

The 17 Cuban refugees who came ashore on Sanibel Island in the early morning hours Sunday included five children, according to Sanibel police, including an 8 year-old girl.

Major Michael Murray of the Sanibel PD said a 9-1-1 call came in at 6:57 a.m.

"The call said there were 15 or 20 people on the beach asking for police assistance," said Murray. "Officers responded and right away we knew we had more than a call for assistance."

The U.S. Coast Guard was called immediately, Murray said. By 7:30 a.m. a Coast Guard boat had detained a 33-foot fast boat with extra fuel tanks near the 101 mile marker in the Caloosahatchee River near Punta Rassa.

Murray said the Cubans were checked out by medics and seemed to be fine, were fed and were on their way to a Border Protection facility in Pembroke Pines by around 11 a.m.

"We work really well and closely with the Coast Guard and they were right on it," he said.

Murray said only four of the migrants had identification The children included three boys and two girls ranging in age from 8 to 17. The adults initially told officers they'd been dropped off around 2 a.m. -- an apparent attempt to allow the smugglers to slip away -- but the younger children said otherwise.

"Two a.m. didn't seem consistent," he said. "Our citizens are pretty aware of what's going on, and 15 to 20 people on the beach would have gotten some attention. We thought the younger kids were probably telling the truth."

The 3900 block of West Gulf Drive, where the Cubans were dropped off, is a secluded, mostly residential area. The incident seems a carbon copy of one that occurred last July, when 19 Cubans were dropped off on Sanibel.

"Obviously it is becoming a problem," Murray said. "We've had two in the two calendar years, and there was the one in Naples today. It seems to be a trend."

Naples police responded early today to reports of Hispanics walking along Gordon Drive. It turned out 28 Cubans had been dropped off .

Murray said Sanibel police follow a standard procedure that has them contacting the Coast Guard and Border Patrol.

"In July '05 it was pretty much the same scenario," he said. "After the first event we pretty much have a standard operating procedure."

© 2006 Naples Daily News and NDN Productions. Published in Naples, Florida, USA by the E.W. Scripps Co.

Dixie; they have began using other routes as the Coast Guard and Homeland Security had their previous routes figured out and were intercepting them at sea. Smuggling Cubans in go fast boats is big business. The smugglers can easily make $100,000 a month by doing two runs. The relatives pay a middleman and he pays the person with the go fast boat. This way the relatives don't know any smuggler if it gets to court. The punishment for the smugglers isn't big enough to discourage it.
Once again our government is allowing illegal activity. Smuggling people is illegal. When President Clinton gane Cubans the wetfoot/dryfoot policy it was meant for those who came on those dangerous manmade rafts where many risked their lives and died in the process. It was never intended for relatives to pay people with fast boats to bring them over. This has got to change as well as many of those who are now coming are criminals. Just like Mexicans they rape women and are involved in violent crimes just as their some of those from the Mariel Boat lifts in the 80s.