News Americas, JUPITER ISLAND, Florida, Mon. June 21, 2021: Authorities continue to search for three Haitians who were part of a boat with 30-Haitian migrants who washed up along the beach on Jupiter Island Sunday.
The Martin County Sheriff’s Office said it assisted Jupiter Island Police to capture and detain 27-people and turn them over to Border Patrol. But three remained missing last night.
“Residents of Jupiter Island started calling the police department that there appeared to be a landing with what appeared to be immigrants coming ashore,” said Martin County Sheriff William Snyder.
The group arrived Sunday morning in a 30-foot Boston Whaler, he said. They were uninjured but thirsty.
The migrants were transported to Palm Beach County to be processed. It’s unclear how long the group had been at sea or who was operating the boat. It appeared their journey began in the Bahamas, officials said.
Deputies reported that one migrant knocked on a resident’s door asking for water. Snyder said that amounts to a “public safety challenge” for law enforcement.
Immigrants “get on shore and they’re lost, they don’t know where they are,” Snyder said. “They get here to Jupiter Island and they have no idea what they’re doing. They begin going through backyards and moving around. I look at it as a public safety challenge because … we don’t know who’s here.”
