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By Jennifer Babson. jbabson@herald.com. Posted on Wed, Nov.
06, 2002 in The Miami Herald.
KEY WEST - Authorities were searching for two suspected smugglers who fled
the scene of a Cuban migrant landing Wednesday morning after their 31-foot
speedboat ran aground off a Marathon beach.
The landing comes little more than 24 hours after Coast Guard officials said
they would step up migrant interdiction patrols off Florida's southern coast in
anticipation of a spike in illegal attempts to reach the U.S. by boat.
Wednesday's alleged smugglers are believed to have captained a boat that
brought 35 Cuban migrants to shore at Coco Plum Beach just before 10 a.m.
Local residents called police after spotting the migrants -- many of whom
were clad in bathing suits -- wading through water to reach shore.
Under U.S. immigration policy, Cuban migrants who reach dry land are allowed
to remain in the country, while those intercepted at sea are generally returned
to the island unless their request to seek asylum is approved.
The vessel, a fiberglass Chris-Craft model, has a Florida registration
number, according to Cameron Hintzen, resident agent-in-charge for U.S. Border
Patrol in the Keys.
Local police and Border Patrol agents searched for the suspected smugglers
into the afternoon Wednesday.
''We are patrolling and looking for them and the Monroe County Sheriff's
Department is too,'' Hintzen said. "You look for people trying to get out
of Marathon, who are making calls at phone booths or are at the bus station.''
Coast Guard personnel and a Monroe sheriff's helicopter were dispatched to
assist in the manhunt.
The migrant group -- which included 22 men, 12 women and one child -- told
authorities they were picked up Saturday evening by smugglers in Carbonera, a
town located along the Bay of Matanzas on Cuba's north coast.
But authorities doubt that timeline.
''They don't look like they have had any exposure to weather,'' Hintzen
said.
One woman was treated at a local hospital for a sprained ankle.
The migrants were transported to Border Patrol's Pembroke Pines station for
processing. Wednesday night they were expected be taken to Krome Avenue
detention center in west Miami-Dade for release into the custody of friends and
relatives.
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