A group of 18 migrants from China and Ecuador arrived by boat in Pompano Beach Tuesday morning, authorities said.
The migrant landing happened at a canal near the 2600 block of Northeast 24th Street.
A neighbor’s Ring camera captured the boat moving quickly through the canal. Two men who were getting ready to go out fishing said the boat was speeding down the canal and hit another boat before dropping the group off at the end of the canal.
U.S. Border Patrol agents and local law enforcement responded and encountered five people from China and 13 from Ecuador, Border Patrol Chief Agent Jeffrey Dinise said.
Dinise posted a photo of the boat the migrants arrived on to X.
Pompano Beach, FL: U.S. Border Patrol agents, @CBPAMORegDirSE & local LE partners responded to a migrant landing & encountered 18 migrants (5- China, 13- Ecuador). The migrants arrived on a vessel this morning. The investigation is ongoing. #happeningnow #florida #tuesday pic.twitter.com/dwe20EAx3N
— Jeffrey Dinise (@USBPChiefMIP) November 19, 2024
One neighbor said he saw a bag full of wet clothes in the street outside his home, and said authorities were busy for hours rounding everyone up.
“I did hear that there were children and women so it made it a bit sad to think about them being rounded up and they’re sort of caught in this whole world that we live in right now until we get some law and order involved and get some normal processing involved,” Camran Kadivar said.
An investigation was ongoing.