Thread: Two men appear in court on human smuggling charges

Two men appear in court on human smuggling charges
By Ana X. Ceron

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Friday, November 16, 2007

Two men have been arrested in connection with the smuggling case that brought 35 Cubans off the shores of Palm Beach early Thursday morning.

Maikel Soto and Duany Llorente-Jimenez, 24, appeared in federal court this morning for a hearing on charges of suspected human smuggling, said Barbara Gonzalez, spokeswoman for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They are scheduled for a hearing in federal court on Wednesday.


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Martin County Sheriff's deputies took Llorente-Jimenez, a Miami resident, into custody on Thursday. He was found inside a 33-foot boat believed to have been used to transport the refugees.

About 2:30 a.m. Thursday, four men of the 35 voyagers knocked on a door on Mockingbird Trail in Palm Beach and told the owner that their boat had sunk.

Police arrived to find preschoolers, teens and adults in their 50s or 60s.

However, one person did not survive the journey. A 39-year-old man was found in the surf, with names and phone numbers of local contacts on slips of paper in his pockets, authorities said.

The rest of the group was taken to the Border Patrol office in Riviera Beach to be interviewed. Then they were bused to a health clinic in Miami for a brief examination before being released. Under the U.S. "wet-foot/dry-foot" policy, Cubans who make it to land can stay and obtain legal U.S. residence.

Staff writer Michael LaForgia contributed to this story.








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Under the U.S. "wet-foot/dry-foot" policy, Cubans who make it to land can stay and obtain legal U.S. residence.

Okay, I know I'm a noob, but when the heck did this policy start and where do we turn to get rid of it???