| Office of Public Affairs U.S. Coast Guard Seventh District |
|
|
| Press Release |
Date: Oct. 12, 2004 Contact: Lt. j.g. Eric Willis |
|
23 DOMINICAN NATIONALS INTERCEPTED AT SEA SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The Coast Guard Cutter Sapelo stopped a 20 foot home made wooden boat (yola) with 20 men and 3 women onboard, approximately three miles southwest of Mona Island Monday night at 8:45 p.m. The migrants, all Dominican Republic Nationals, claimed to have departed from Boca De Yuma the morning of Oct. 9 in an attempt to migrate into Puerto Rico. Yesterday morning, the crew of Sapelo transferred all 23 people to the Dominican navy vessel Canopus for further transport back to the Dominican Republic. In an effort to become even more effective at curbing illegal migration the U.S. Coast Guard is working directly with the Dominican Republic navy, including embarking shipriders to ride along on patrols and share information and authorities. During this case a Dominican Republic naval officer was onboard the Sapelo and assisted in the smooth interdiction and repatration of these migrants. "We are very positive about the opportunity to work even closer with the Dominican Republic Navy" said Cmdr. Karl Gabrielsen of the Coast Guard Sector San Juan, Response Command, "by pooling our experiences and assets and working as a team with other homeland security and Puerto Rico law enforcement agencies, we will have the best chance of saving lives and protecting our borders." During the last fiscal year more than 6000 Dominicans were intercepted at sea in the Mona passage, the most since 1996. While on cutters, all Migrants are given food, water and any necesseary medical care. CGC Sapelo is a 110' patrol boat based in San Juan, Puerto Rico. ### The U.S. Coast Guard is a military, maritime, multi-mission service within the |
printer friendly