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Last weekend, the U.S. Coast Guard busted a group of eight stowaways on a barge in San Juan's harbor, the latest in a string of interdictions on tug-and-tow traffic to Puerto Rico. This time was different in the unusual composition of the would-be immigrant group and the last port of call: the group was on board a vessel that had departed from the continental United States, not a foreign country.
On May 22, Sector San Juan received a report from CBP's Air and Marine Operations Center, which reported that possible stowaways had been spotted aboard the barge tow connected to the U.S.-flagged tug Southern Dawn.
AIS data provided by Pole Star Global shows that Southern Dawn's port of departure was Jacksonville, Florida. She left on May 16 and got under way for Puerto Rico, maintaining a steady speed of 7-8 knots throughout the voyage and making no foreign port calls, stops or diversions.
Though the tug had been on a domestic route, foreign nationals had managed to get on board the tow at some point before arrival in San Juan, according to the Coast Guard. Four Chinese nationals and four Dominican Republic nationals were apprehended by a Coast Guard boat crew, and were transferred to CBP for processing at the Puerto Nuevo Terminals in San Juan's harbor.
"The coordination and swift response of the Coast Guard and our partner agencies to apprehend and process these stowaways demonstrates our collective commitment to securing and protecting the U.S. maritime border and navigable waterways in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands," said Cmdr. Matthew Romano, Coast Guard Sector San Juan's chief of response.
Chinese nationals account for about 2-3 percent of all illegal immigrants in the United States, but apprehensions of unauthorized Chinese migrants have been on the rise on the southern border in recent years. About 25,000 arrests of Chinese nationals occurred at the border in 2024, according to the Border Patrol.
It is unclear whether the stowaways boarded in Jacksonville or at sea, and why they attempted to reach Puerto Rico rather than Florida, Southern Dawn's port of origin and next port of call.
Southern Dawn is a twin screw, EMD-powered line-haul tug originally built at Bollinger as the Hoku Ke'a, delivered to Young Brothers and used in the Hawaiian trades. She was resold in 2021 to a company based in Louisiana and given her current name, according to Tugboat Information. AIS data shows that she has since returned to Jacksonville.
Fuente: Maritime Executive
