Personnel from the Office of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) processed this morning the transfer of 104 people of undefined immigration status who were left adrift on Mona Island.
The spokesman for the federal agency, Jeffrey Quiñones, explained to the press that the large group was taken to the scene in what appears to be a “drop off” type operation used by smugglers to dispose of their cargo in the shortest possible time.
“They use Isla de Mona due to its proximity to the Dominican Republic; however, they do not tell people that this place is distant from Puerto Rico”, he added.
This criminal practice is common among smugglers who make people believe that they arrived on the big island of Puerto Rico under false pretenses and then leave them to their fate.
According to the official, the group of people is made up mostly of people from Haiti.
It was indicated that CBP personnel will mobilize people to the Ramey Base, in the town of Aguadilla, where they will be interviewed regarding their immigration status.
Last May, at north of Desecheo island, a shipwreck occurred in which 11 Haitian women died trying to reach Puerto Rico, while another 30 people were presumed dead as they were not found alive during the rescue operations.
Between October 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022, the United States Coast Guard intervened with 88 illegal trips in the Mona Passage and near the coast of Puerto Rico, in which 2,273 people of foreign nationalities were detained, including 1,705 Dominicans and 44 Haitians.
