September 8, 11

NEWS / 19-year-old Smuggler Indicted For Attempting to Enter Aliens into Mona Island

San Juan, Puerto Rico – On September 1, a federal grand jury indicted Braulio Santana-Beltran, 19, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, for attempting to smuggle 13 Cuban nationals into Mona Island on August 27.

Ramey Sector Border Patrol Agents arrested Santana-Beltran and presented a sworn criminal complaint for violation of Title 8 United States Code, section 1324, for attempting to bring to the United States, in any manner, whatsoever aliens at a place other than a designated port of entry.

On August 27, the US Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo detected a 20-foot migrant boat with people onboard hiding under a blue tarp, approximately nine nautical miles west on Mona Island, Puerto Rico. Upon interdicting the migrant boat, they found 13 men and one woman for a total of three Dominicans and 11 Cubans.

Assistant US Attorney Evelyn Canals will prosecute the case and if found guilty, Santana-Beltran will face a fine and up to ten years in prison.

All defendants are presumed innocent until found guilty by a court of law.

The concept of CBIG resulted from a March 2006 collaboration of local Homeland Security components that effectively stemmed the increased flow of traffic across the Mona Passage between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. In July 2006, CBIG was formally created to unify efforts of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the U.S. Coast Guard, Immigration and Customs Enforcement-Homeland Security Investigations, the United States Attorney‘s Office, District of Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid Action in their common goal of securing Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands against illegal maritime traffic and gaining control of our nation’s Caribbean borders.

http://www.cbp.gov/xp/cgov/newsroom/news_releases/local/09022011_6.xml