Oct. 3 (UPI) — U.S. Border Patrol Agents apprehended 64 Haitian migrants who were abandoned by a smuggling organization on Mona Island in Puerto Rico, the CBP announced Thursday.
The migrants were abandoned Wednesday, the agency said.
The U.S. Coast Guard said 14 Haitian immigrants were taken to the Mayaguez Port of Entry after being left stranded by smugglers in Monito Island on September 29th. Thirty one Haitian migrants were abandoned in the same location two weeks earlier.
“I reiterate the fact that there are safe, orderly, and lawful paths to come to the United States. There is no need to risk their lives traversing the Mona Passage in the hands of ruthless smugglers, only to arrive at our coast and face the legal consequences of unlawful entry,” Reggie Johnson, acting chief patrol agent for Ramey Sector, said Wednesday.
That sector of the border is composed entirely of coastline and made up of 6,000 square miles of land and water. It is one of 21 border sectors across the United States.
The Ramey Border Patrol Station received a call Wednesday from Park Rangers of the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources about the 64 migrants left on Mona.
The Coast Guard transported 30 adult men, 28 adult women, 3 accompanied minors and 3 unaccompanied minors to the Ramey sector Border Patrol. They will be processed according to U.S. anti-trafficking laws, CPB said.
“Any minor who is not with a parent or legal guardian is considered unaccompanied and must be transferred to the Department of Health and Human Services for appropriate care,” the CPB said in its release.
The Ramey sector is the only Border Patrol Sector located outside the continental United States and encompasses the U.S. territorial islands of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
The high number of Haitian migrants is being attributed to the large number being kicked out of the Dominican Republic, media reports said. The two countries share an island.