Authorities at the Port of Houston recently arrested 23 stowaways after some of them jumped from the barge they were traveling on into the shipping channel. They believe that one person drowned in the heavy currents.
*********
Nineteen Haitian migrants who were apprehended by the Coast Guard before making it to US soil were returned to Haiti this week. The move angered many advocates, as the group was part of a larger group of more than 200 that arrived in dramatic fashion last week. The others, who made it to shore, are still being held in INS detention.
*********
This week the Coast Guard announced that it was stepping up patrols off the Florida coast in an effort to thwart a potential increase in undocumented migration from Cuba, the Dominican Republic and Haiti.
*********
The suspected leader of an immigrant smuggling ring was arrested by US authorities in El Paso last week. Ruben Patrick Valdes, a US citizen, was deported from Mexico and Mexican officials took him to the border and presented him to INS agents. Officials say that the smuggling ring was responsible for transporting hundreds of immigrants into the US, and is believed to have been involved in an incident in which two people died last summer after being sealed in a tractor trailer rig.
Disclaimer: This newsletter is provided as a public service and not intended to establish an attorney client relationship. Any reliance on information contained herein is taken at your own risk. The information provided in this article has not been updated since its original posting and you should not rely on it until you consult counsel to determine if the content is still valid. We keep older articles online because it helps in the understanding of the development of immigration law.