SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Ramey Sector Border Patrol Agents apprehended Monday 16 undocumented migrants that disembarked from a makeshift wooden vessel near a shopping mall in Hatillo, Puerto Rico.
The Ramey Station received a report of a possible migrant smuggling incident near Plaza del Norte mall in the municipality if Hatillo. Border Patrol agents along with personnel from Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Hatillo Municipal Police and Puerto Rico Police Department Officers reached the beach behind the mall area and located an abandoned 30-foot, fiberglass vessel, blue in color with two outboard engines beached on the shore.
“Our message for anyone who is thinking of entering the United States illegally crossing the Mona Passage is simple: don’t do it,” stated Desi DeLeon, Chief Patrol Agent for the Ramey Sector. “People who venture to cross the sea, boarding a rustic and inadequate boat, endanger not only their lives, but also the lives of law enforcement officials from both countries. with the mission of rescuing them.”
After an extensive search, agents located 16 undocumented migrants, 12 adult males from the Dominican Republic, 2 adult males from Haiti, 1 adult female from Haiti and 1 adult female from the Dominican Republic.
A Haitian female complaining of dehydration was transported to Camuy Health Services for medical evaluation.
During this federal fiscal year Ramey Sector Border Patrol agents have apprehended 1,329 non-citizens who attempted or entered the US illegally in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Under Title 8 it is a crime to enter or attempt to enter without requesting admission at a port of entry so designated by immigration officials, a matter that may adversely affect an immigrant’s chances of remaining legally in the United States.
Agents transported the group to the Ramey Station for removal proceedings.
According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) the smuggling of migrants by sea produces the largest number of deaths worldwide. The report argues that lack of food, dehydration, as well as drowning and beatings or murder by smugglers, who have thrown people overboard, have been documented among the causes of death. Suicides have also been reported.
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