U.S. Border Patrol, U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), and the Puerto Rico Police Department (PRPD) recently intercepted two vessels carrying 40 undocumented aliens from the Dominican Republic and Haiti attempting to illegally enter Puerto Rico near the island’s west coast.
“Sustained collaborations with our federal and state partners allow us to be effective to prevent smuggling attempts into Puerto Rico’s coast,” Ramiro Cerrillo, chief patrol agent for the Ramey Sector, said.
After Ramey Border Patrol agents detected a vessel without navigational lights heading toward Aguada, Puerto Rico, they coordinated for an intercept with the USCG Command Center and the PRPD Joint Forces of Rapid Action (FURA, for its Spanish acronym).
A FURA vessel intercepted the vessel approximately four miles off the coast of Aguada. The crew found 12 undocumented migrants: four adult males and five adult females from the Dominican Republic and three adult males from Haiti. The migrants were detained and transferred to a USCG Cutter.
Upon transferring the aliens to the USCG Cutter, the crew identified and intercepted a second vessel with 28 subjects on board who were also detained and transferred to the USCG Cutter.
Biometric checks revealed that 10 aliens met the guidelines for prosecution related to prior criminal and immigration violations. They were transferred to Border Patrol custody at the Mayaguez Port of Entry. The remaining undocumented aliens were repatriated to the Dominican Republic.