Nine Illegal Migrants Picked Up On Miami Beach
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Police went on a foot chase on Miami Beach early Monday morning, chasing a man that was one of nine people who ran from a boat after arriving on shore.
Just down the block, police cuffed another man from the same boat. In all, police and Border Patrol took nine people into custody after a boat came ashore near 24th street in Miami Beach.
Border Patrol told CBS4 five of the men are from India, another from Jamaica, one from the Bahamas and a woman from Haiti.
"I was surprised to see that not only Cubans but other nationalities who come to shore as well," said Miami Beach Resident Soledad Diaz.
Investigators believe the group made it to the Bahamas first, and were then smuggled on the 26-foot Mako the rest of the way for a daring ocean ride in the darkness.
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"Migrants and narcotics make it to The Bahamas," said Frank Miller from the US Border Patrol, "where criminal organizations stage them for a given amount of time until they find that prime opportunity."
When the migrants arrived in the early morning hours, they blended in, looking like any tourist or local with nice clothes and chatting on a cell phone.
Many come to the U.S. with big dreams.
"It doesn't surprise me," said tourist Rudy Roca. "because people are not leaving this country, they are coming to this country. When you are from India or any of those third world countries you really want to come here because our opportunities are far better than anyone else," he said.
The woman from Haiti was taken to the hospital to be checked out. She was cleared.
Later, while being questioned at the Border Patrol Station in Dania Beach, an ambulance showed up to check up on another one of the migrants. Investigators tell us that person is okay too.
Border Patrol agents believe the smugglers are with a large, well-organized group of smugglers that operates like a company.
"These are well organized transnational criminal organizations," said Miller. "What they mean is they have resources nationwide, they have recruiters throughout the world who find people who want to be smuggled to the United States, but they also smuggle narcotics, cocaine, marijuana."
