DATE: July 14, 2009 1:28:44 PM EDT
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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News Release

Date: July 14, 2009

Contact: (787) 510-7923

 Coast Guard repatriates 11 Dominicans to La Romana, Dominican Republic

 2 other Dominicans are detained for prosecution

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico - The crew of Coast Guard Cutter Matinicus repatriated 11 Dominican migrants to La Romana, Dominican Republic Tuesday, following an at-sea interdiction by the Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo Sunday.

The crew of the Key Largo detained two other Dominican men, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Puerto Rico accepted to prosecute their cases.

The crew of a U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary fixed-wing aircraft located a migrant vessel Sunday morning, while patrolling waters approximately eight nautical miles south of Mona Island, Puerto Rico. 

The 13 Dominican migrants were traveling illegally to Puerto Rico from the Dominican Republic aboard a 20-foot grossly overloaded fiberglass yola.

The crew of the Key Largo interdicted the migrant vessel and safely embarked eight men and five women, including one male minor.   Once onboard the cutter, the crew of the Key Largo collected the biographic information, including digital fingerprints and facial photographs from the interdicted migrants.  The crew of the Key Largo transferred custody of the two detained migrants Monday to awaiting Border Patrol agents in Añasco, Puerto Rico.

The Key Largo rendezvoused with the Matinicus in the Mona Passage waters and transferred custody Tuesday morning of the remaining 11 migrants that would be repatriated back to the Dominican Republic.

The crew of the Matinicus repatriated the 11 Dominicans Tuesday afternoon, when they turned custody over to Dominican Republic Naval authorities in La Romana, Dominican Republic.

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 the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Office of Air & Marine (A&M), Office of Field Operations (OFO), and Office of Border Patrol (OBP), the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) the United States Attorney ' s Office, District of Puerto Rico, and Puerto Rico Police Joint Forces of Rapid action (FURA) 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.

Coast Guard Cutter Key Largo is a 110-foot patrol boat home ported in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

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