Coast Guard stops migrant boat, arrests 3 suspected criminal gang members wanted for deadly shooting



The United States Coast Guard stopped a migrant boat headed for America, leading to the arrest of three fugitives allegedly affiliated with a criminal gang, according to a Tuesday press release.

The Coast Guard reported that the “unlawful migration voyage” was interdicted on Friday in Mona Passage, a strait separating Puerto Rico and Hispaniola.

The 20-foot boat was spotted Friday morning by aircrew with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations multi-role enforcement aircraft, the Coast Guard’s press release explained.

Eight individuals and multiple cockfighting roosters were found on board. The migrants told the Coast Guard that they departed from the Dominican Republic and were heading to Puerto Rico when their boat experienced engine malfunctions. The crew had attempted to turn the ship around and head back when they were discovered by authorities.

An investigation by the Dominican Republic Navy and Homeland Security Investigations revealed that three of the individuals were U.S. citizens with outstanding warrants. The Coast Guard stated that the three are “affiliated with a criminal gang and wanted in connection with a July 2020 shooting at a residential community in Puerto Rico in which four people were killed.”

Lt. Vincente Garcia, Coast Guard liaison to the Dominican Republic, stated, “Our strong partnerships and daily collaboration between all federal partner agencies involved in this case as well as Dominican Republic Navy and Dominican law enforcement authorities resulted in the safe repatriation of five migrants and the apprehension of three wanted U.S. citizens.”

“These efforts are instrumental to achieving regional stability and safeguarding our nation’s southernmost maritime border from dangers and threats associated with unlawful migration and other prevalent illicit maritime activity,” Garcia added.

The Coast Guard noted that migrants apprehended at sea or ashore “will not be allowed to stay in the United States or a U.S. territory.” Illegal migrants are either returned to their country of origin or the country from where they departed, it noted.

Last week, the Coast Guard intercepted a boat carrying 19 Cuban nationals near Key West, Florida.

Lt. Peter Hutchison, Coast Guard Seventh District Enforcement Branch, said, “Migrants attempting to enter the U.S. unlawfully by sea will be disqualified indefinitely from the legal immigration parole policy for Cubans and Haitians.”

“Migrants intercepted at sea, regardless of their nationality, will not be permitted to enter the United States. Those without a legal basis to remain in the U.S. will also be removed,” Hutchison noted.

So far, in fiscal year 2024, the Coast Guard has repatriated 367 Cuban migrants.

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Cuban migrants land at Florida airport in motorized hang glider; detained by ICE



Two Cuban migrants arrived at Key West International Airport in a motorized hang glider Saturday, authorities reported.

"I actually heard it first. I heard that glider in the air (and) I heard the motor," Christopher Herrera told WPLG. "I actually looked up because it shouldn’t be where it was, that’s in the path of Key West Airport," Herrera added.

No serious injuries were reported, the Monroe County Sheriff's Office said of the 10:30 a.m. arrival.

MCSO officials said the two migrants were turned over to the custody of the United States Border Patrol.

There were no interruptions in service at the airport and "operations continue as normal," airport director Richard Strickland said in a statement acquired by the Miami Herald.

Chief Patrol Agent Walter N. Slosar of the United States Border Patrol Miami Sector shared photographs of the craft on Twitter Saturday.

The USBP's Miami Sector safeguards 1,279 miles of coastal border along the Atlantic and Gulf shores in the Sunshine State. It contains six Border Patrol Stations "strategically located and staffed to address the current threat within the State of Florida only."

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"I see this thing coming at me, and it looks weird," seaplane pilot Nick Pontecorvo told Keys News. "I see it's an ultralight and it zips past my wing."

Pontecorvo described the sight as "pretty awesome," according to WPLG. He said said it takes "a lot of courage" to make a flight over 90 miles of open ocean, "especially with the wind."

In February 2023, 22,755 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans were paroled into the country though the parole process established for Venezuelans in October and then expanded to additional nationalities in January, U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported in its Monthly Operational Update March 15.

CBP reported a decline of 98% in encounters of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans between ports of entry on the southwest border based on a seven-day average of 1,231 in January and a seven-day average of 46 in February.

CBP reports the total number of unique southwest border encounters of Cubans was 140 as of February 23. The figure was 6,053 for January and 42,183 for December 2022.

The Cuban migrants who entered the country via hang glider are being held at Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach, WPLG reported Monday. They are currently under a 10-day quarantine at the detention facility and will come before a judge after that quarantine period expires, the outlet also reported.
Watch footage shared by WPLG of the motorized hang glider in the air, approaching Key West International Airport.
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2 dead, 10 missing after boat carrying Cuban migrants capsizes off Key West



A vessel full of Cuban nationals trying to reach the U.S. capsized and sank off Key West, Florida, on Thursday, leaving two confirmed dead and another 10 missing according to officials.

What are the details?

The New York Times reported that a Coast Guard cutter came upon a group of people floating in the water roughly 18 miles from the coast in the early afternoon, with no boat in sight. Eight survivors were rescued.

"There was no vessel. The people were found in the water," Petty Officer Hernandez told the newspaper. "That's why we don't have any of the nationalities or anything like that."

Monroe County Sheriff Rick Ramsay confirmed later that 20 Cubans attempting to reach the U.S. were originally on board the boat.

Two Coast Guard cutters and several smaller boats continued to search for survivors and victims into the evening, authorities told The Miami Herald. The Coast Guard assured the public that they would continue to search throughout the night.

Anything else?

Just days earlier in a separate incident, a raft carrying 11 Cuban migrants overturned during a voyage across the Florida Straits on Saturday, causing them to lose "their food, water and medication," the Herald reported.

The group was able to flip the raft back upright and continue on their journey, making it about an hour north of Key West. One of the men on board had died by the time the Coast Guard came upon the vessel.

"The dangers of traveling through the Florida Straits cannot be overstated," Chief Warrant Officer Matt James, commanding officer, Station Islamorada, said in a statement following the incident. "Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family and friends of the man who died as a result of losing critical medicine for a reported pre-existing condition during the capsizing."

2 dead, 8 rescued, 10 missing after boat capsizes in Florida Keys www.youtube.com

COVID curfew violators arrested in Key West — including prominent restaurant owner: 'He said it was not a real law'



Police arrested at least a half-dozen people — including a prominent restaurant owner — in Key West, Florida, for violating the city's New Year's Eve COVID-19 curfew, the Key West Citizen reported.

Police arrested at least a half-dozen people on Thursday night for violating the City of Key West's New Year's Eve… https://t.co/KvgOmSP94M
— Key West Citizen (@Key West Citizen)1609514107.0

What are the details?

The paper said Joe Walsh has been a vocal opponent of several city COVID-19 restrictions, including a mask requirement, and that on Thursday he emailed City Manager Greg Veliz stating he wouldn't close Fogarty's, his bar and restaurant.

Turns out Walsh's business was the only one that failed to heed the city's curfew, which required nonessential businesses to close at 10 p.m. every night through Sunday, the Citizen reported.

"He said it was not a real law," Veliz added to the paper regarding Walsh's objection to the curfew.

Veliz noted to the Citizen that he told Walsh in front of Fogarty's on New Year's Eve that he didn't have to be arrested but that he had to close.

"I told him it didn't have to be this way," Veliz told the paper. "I turned around, and next thing I know he was in handcuffs. It was unfortunate."

FL KEY WEST: A 10pm covid curfew was dropped on NYE Restaurant owner Joe Walsh refused and stood open as many oth… https://t.co/u6qnNGg2c3
— Drew Hernandez (@Drew Hernandez)1609526036.0

Walsh and the other arrestees were cited with misdemeanors for violating an emergency management directive, the Citizen said.

In addition, a small protest broke out on New Year's Eve on Duval Street shortly after 10 p.m., the paper said, adding that tourists told Veliz they didn't have to obey the curfew.

"I had people telling me they come to Key West because there is no rules. That is the problem," Veliz told the Citizen. "Times Square in New York City was closed off, and they are telling me Duval Street doesn't apply."

Nope, nothing out of sorts occurred in Times Square on New Year's Eve — especially not with left-wing New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Police were called to clear Duval Street and conduct crowd control, the paper said, adding that Veliz noted the street was cleared by 11:10 p.m.

Anything else?

Walsh — who's scheduled to be arraigned Jan. 14 — on Friday told the Citizen he intends to plead not guilty and fight the charge.

He added to the paper that the city's curfew violates the governor's order prohibiting local governments from enforcing local COVID-19 restrictions and that the curfew is illegal because the entire city commission did not vote on it.

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