5 in custody after migrants come ashore in Lauderdale
Migrants traveling in an open fishing boat arrived at a Fort Lauderdale marina on Tuesday morning, disrupting a neighborhood that includes an iconic Fort Lauderdale hotel.
Five men of various nationalitieswere taken into custody after “a possible maritime smuggling event,” federal authorities said.
The scene began unfolding about10 a.m. at The SailsMarina, at 2150 SE 17th St. Causeway, south of the bridge along the IntracoastalWaterway, federal officials said.
Searches for the men and others who may have gotten away also included the grounds of theHyatt Regency Pier Sixty-Six hotel and marina, on the north side of the causeway.
As two helicopters searched fromabove, K-9 officers, Fort Lauderdale police officers, ambulances fromthe city’s fire department, and heavily armed personnel fromU.S. Customs and Border Protection and theU.S. Border Patrol swarmed the hotel property.
The investigation at The SailsMarina continued into Tuesday afternoon, where an employee declined to comment and a representative for the company that is renting it could not be reached.
“Broadly speaking, maritime smuggling events have decreased significantly since the executive order that repealed the CubanAdjustment Act (and the provisions informally known aswet foot/ dry foot),” Todd Bryan, division chief and spokesman for theU.S. Border Patrol’sMiami Sector, said in an email.
TheU.S. Coast Guard said it tracks migrant landings or captures at sea of citizens fromCuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
The number of interdictions of migrants from Cuba have fallen sharply, while those who traveled fromHaiti and the Dominican Republic are flat or could exceed numbers for the 2016 fiscal year that runs Oct. 1 through Sept. 30, the agency said.
Approximately 1,990 Cuban migrants attempted to illegally migrate to the U.S. in the nine months since Oct. 1, compared with 7,411Cubans in all of the 2016 fiscal year, the Coast Guard said.
ForHaitians, 1,872were stopped in 2016; so far this year, therewere 754 attempts. Dominicans who tried to get to theU.S. in 2016 numbered 660; in 2017 therewere 589.
An agent with theU.S. Border Patrol’sDania Beach station took the five men into custody Tuesday, according to Bryant. They were likely taken to that station for processing, he said.
Federal agents and local lawenforcementwere still at the scene “to locate any outstanding subjects who were part of this event,” Bryant said.
Two of the new arrivals were taken to Broward HealthMedical Center, according to Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue Deputy Fire Chief TimothyHeiser. One personmay have been affected by dehydration, according to Bryant.
One of the menwas treated and released back to authorities and the other was still at the hospital Tuesday afternoon, according toNestor Yglesias, spokesman forHomeland Security Investigations, which took over the case.
The group had arrived in a 32-foot open fisherman vessel, Yglesias said. Their tripwas unusual because they arrivedwell after sunrise rather than during nighttime hours.
Yglesias said the federal investigation is active and that any charges are pending the result of interviews with those aboard the boat.
Staff researcher Barbara Hijek contributed to this report.