Feb. 25, 2002 – Sitting on the ground around a police car at the St. John police station sally port on Monday morning, 16 young Chinese people who entered the country illegally on Sunday night looked glumly out through the grillwork at passersby.
The five men and 11 women who all appeared to be in their 20s and early 30s were picked up near Annaberg Plantation after police received a call at 10:30 p.m. Sunday. It was believed that they arrived by boat.
U.S. Immigration and Naturalization officers arrived at mid-morning to take them to St. Thomas for an appearance in U.S. District Court. In most cases of this type, the illegal aliens are charged with illegal entry.
"The Chinese usually turn themselves in," Ivan Ortiz, INS spokesman in Puerto Rico, said. He said that they are usually held in a Virgin Islands jail while they await a hearing. If they apply for political asylum, they will be transferred to a mainland detention center.
The U.S. Virgin Islands in general, and St. John in particular, has seen numerous illegal aliens landing on its beaches. Most are Chinese or Haitian, but a smattering of Colombians and people from the Middle East also make their way here, Ortiz said. The Chinese often come from Fujian Province, where they pay up to $50,000 for the trip with the goal of reaching the U.S. mainland.
Ortiz said about 500 to 600 illegal aliens a year have been arriving in the territory. He said that Puerto Rico sees some 2,000 people a year trying to enter illegally, mainly from the Dominican Republic. And nearly two million a year try to cross the border from Mexico to the southwestern United States.
