19 Illegal Immigrants Repatriated

The Surveillance and Investigation Unit of the BVI Immigration Department apprehended nineteen illegal immigrants at Beef Island at about 5am on 12 February. The news was disclosed by Chief Minister Hon. Ralph T. O’Neal at Monday’s press conference. The illegal immigrants arrived by sea from St. Martin and included eight nationals of Jordan (including three children under the age of 6), two nationals of Rumania, four nationals of the Dominican Republic, three nationals of Haiti and two nationals of Kuwait. Mr. O’Neal credited the Immigration Department for their hard work and diligence in succeeding to repatriate all the illegal immigrants within 48 to 76 hours. The last set of aliens left on 15 February. The Chief Minister further noted that the illegal immigrants paid their airfare back to their native countries, including repatriation costs for the BVI government. The immigrants reportedly paid between $800/$1500 to an unscrupulous captain to make their illegal trip to St. Thomas but were landed in the BVI. This is the first batch of reported illegal immigrants for the new year. In 1999 the Immigration Dept. had to deal with two sets of aliens, and some $1883 was spent to repatriate them.