Border Patrol Agents and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) Special Agents filed a migrant smuggling complaint against a Dominican citizen who captained an artisanal vessel, or yola, which was shipwrecked 10 miles from Puerto Rico.
The US federal agency reported this Monday through a statement that Fermin Montilla, 43 years old, appeared Friday before Judge Giselle López facing charges under title 8 of the United States Code for bringing or attempting to bring people into the US through a place not designated as a port of entry.
The statement details that around noon last Thursday, a CBP Air and Maritime Operations (AMO) aircraft detected an overturned yawl and several people around it.
Members of several agencies part of the Caribbean Border Interagency Group (CBIG) tried to recover several dozen Haitian migrants who fell into the water, incident in which 11 women of that nationality died.
The US Coast Guard called off the search for survivors on Sunday night.
If found guilty, the defendant faces life in prison, a fine, or both at the discretion of the court.
The boat, loaded with dozens of migrants, capsized at a point approximately 10 nautical miles north of Desecheo, a small, uninhabited island located about 20 miles off the west coast of Puerto Rico.
The official deceased are 11 migrant women of Haitian nationality, as confirmed by the Prime Minister of that country, Ariel Henry.
The maritime strip known as the Mona Canal, which separates the Dominican Republic from Puerto Rico, is a regular migration route and boats are seized every week.