April 6, 2004 -Ten illegal aliens were taken into custody while attempting to enter the territory early Tuesday, an immigration official said.
An Immigration and Customs Enforcement aircraft spotted a 26-foot speedboat in British Virgin Islands waters around 2:30 a.m., Immigration spokesman Ivan Ortiz said by telephone from Puerto Rico.
After receiving permission from B.V.I. officials, U.S. officers aboard an Immigration boat stopped and searched the speedboat. Aboard they found eight nationals of the Dominican Republic, one Jordanian and one Dutch national from Sint Maarten. None had proper entry papers, and all were being detained on St. Thomas.
It was not immediately clear where the speedboat had come from, but Ortiz said the vessel was bound for St. John.
He said the case is important because the Immigration officers were able to identify the captain of the boat, meaning they had caught a suspected smuggler, and not just the human cargo most frequently found.
The 10 have been charged with illegal entry, and the U.S. Attorney's Office will decide whether to prosecute or simply repatriate the individuals.
"I think this is a significant interception," Ortiz said. "It shows the patrolling of the area by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Coast Guard is producing dividends."
There have been two other cases this week of undocumented aliens taken into custody on St. John.
Around 9 p.m. Monday, a Haitian woman was detained by police in the Upper Carolina section of St. John and then turned over to Immigration officials, Sgt. Thomas Hannah, police spokesman, said on Tuesday. Police think she had been part of a group of 14 undocumented aliens who were detained Sunday on the island.
V.I. police officers apprehended seven women and one man from China, two men from the Dominican Republic, and three women and one man from Haiti at various times throughout the day on Sunday, Hannah said.
"We know they came by boat," Hannah said, adding that it is still unknown what type of vessel or vessels were used or how long the illegal immigrants had been in the territory.
St. John is a popular place for smugglers to drop undocumented aliens, who often arrive by boat from St. Martin, according to Immigration officials. Hannah said more than 100 undocumented aliens have been found in the territory so far this year.
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