Nineteen illegal Chinese immigrants taken into custody Tuesday morning on St. John are scheduled to appear in District Court on Thursday.
The immigrants were arrested by local police and National Park Service rangers in front of the Coral Bay fire station. They were transported from there and turned over to U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service agents.
About 450 illegal immigrants have come ashore in the Virgin Islands so far this year, already more than 1999's total. Last month, the Source reported that the U.S. Attorney's Office was building an illegal immigrant-smuggling case against Chan Hak-So, a Chinese national being extradited from Hong Kong to the V.I.