Aug. 30, 2002 – In one of the busier weeks in recent memory, a total of 58 illegal aliens arrived on St. John in four separate waves, indicates a Police Department press release.
The onslaught started Sunday, when eight men and five women from China came ashore in Coral Bay. A taxi driver picked them up and dropped them at the police station.
On Monday, eight Chinese men were picked up by V.I. National Park officers at Annaberg. At the same time, 8:45 a.m., the Police Department got a call about another 17 Chinese men in the Coral Bay area.
And on Thursday, police picked up seven women and 13 men, all from Haiti. One of the men carried identification that indicated he was a police officer.
All 58 were charged with illegal entry and turned over the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service for processing.
Steve Clark, the park's chief enforcement ranger, said the Chinese illegal aliens came equipped with park-issue full-color maps of the type handed out at the Visitor's Center. They're marked with arrows directing them to take the Johnny Horn Trail to Brown Bay and on to Coral Bay.
"Some of them get confused and go out to Annaberg," Clark said, referring to a location in the opposite direction of the Johnny Horn Trail.
Clark had no idea how the illegal aliens get the maps. He said it was up to the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service to determine if they received help from someone in St. John or the Virgin Islands.
He said that, one day this week, an illegal alien asked a park lifeguard passing through Coral Bay on his way to work how to find the grocery store in Coral Bay. It appears to be a matter of happenstance because the lifeguard was not wearing a park uniform.
Dealing with the steady stream of illegal aliens taxes the park's resources. "You take two rangers out of pocket to deal with the illegals and they can't do their ranger patrol," Clark said.
While Deputy Police Chief Angelo Hill could not be reached for comment, he has said in the past that his department is also overburdened by dealing with the large numbers of illegal aliens.
Clark said having Immigration officers patrol the area would help. However, he does not think that will happen any time soon.
"Unless something happens to curtail this, the smuggling is going to continue," he said.
The chief ranger also worries about safety issues. He said a park ranger at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument in Arizona was shot to death several weeks ago while dealing with illegal aliens.
He said that rangers pat down the illegal aliens to determine if they're carrying weapons. "You can never let your guard down," Clark said.
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