Sept. 20, 2006 The U.S. Coast Guard pulled 31 suspected illegal immigrants off a "grossly overloaded" sailboat near St. John, an official said Wednesday.
The 26-foot sailboat was carrying 29 Haitians — 13 women, 14 men and two children — along with two men from the Dominican Republic, said Coast Guard Spokesman Ricardo Castrodad. He said Coast Guard aircraft spotted the boat about 50 miles northeast of St. Croix early Monday.
The 110-foot Coast Guard cutter Chandeleur interdicted the migrants before dawn Monday about 20 miles east of St. John, Castrodad said.
The Coast Guard repatriated the migrants to Santo Domingo on Wednesday, he said.
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