Aguadilla, Puerto Rico – CBP U.S. Border Patrol agents Monday arrested an undocumented alien from the Dominican Republic in a solo attempt to reach the island on board a makeshift wooden vessel.
Romulo Pérez-Forian, 35, also known as Luis Pérez-Ferrera and Luis Pérez-Ferra, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was arrested for attempting to re-enter the United States after a previous deportation - a violation of Title 8 United States Code, Section 1326.
Pérez-Forian was due to appear Tuesday, in an initial appearance, before U.S. District Court Magistrate Judge Marcos López.
Near midnight Sunday, a CBP aircraft detected a vessel without navigational lights traveling east toward the western coast of Puerto Rico.
A marine patrol unit of the Puerto Rico Police FURA, with Border Patrol agents onboard, approached a wooden “yola” type vessel with only one person on board.
The vessel operator failed to heave to for several minutes and during the pursuit, the operator rammed the FURA vessel.
Finally, the vessel was intercepted approximately three miles off the coast of Aguada, Puerto Rico and sank. Agents retrieved the subject from the water.
The subject, who claimed to be a national of the Dominican Republic, was transfered to the Ramey Border Patrol Station for processing.
Biometric immigration databases revealed that Mr. Pérez-Forian was ordered removed by an immigration judge on March 18, 2010. He had other immigration encounters on April 11 and June 18, 2003.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Evelyn Canals will prosecute the case.
About the Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG):
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 is organized of such agencies as U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Puerto Rico and the Puerto Rico Police Department’s Joint Forces for Rapid Action (FURA, for its Spanish Acronym).
U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.
