Doesn't really matter. They move to a different location every day. Yesterday they were at the airport! The ones in the newspaper were a Red Hook.

They also were at Seaborne Airlines in Charlotte Amalie. Expect even more searches/screening in future due to their findings.

And have your government issued ID with you when you travel.

East, does that mean that we should carry our passports with us wherever we go when we're on vacation? On the ferry, shopping, beaches?

For the ferry, as I understand it, you just need something like your driver's license. You aren't required to have a passport traveling between US ports, but you may need to prove who you are. The article the other day indicated that they found several people with no documentation of citizenship. The east end of St John is a favorite landing spot for human smugglers, only about 100 miles from their staging spot in St Maarten. I think catching them early, when they get on the ferry, is the idea.

My daughter takes the ferry to school from STT to STJ and she had her bags searched and they were going to confiscate her lunch (told her she couldn't take food or liquids).

I actually find it amusing at times that they do this !!!!! (not)

Last week, 6 non speaking men came out of the bush in Coral Bay STJ, soaking wet and covered in sand (boy wonder how they arrived) boarded the bus to Cruz Bay and got off at the Post Office. My friend got off at the ferry dock just around the corner and saw the police. She then told him of the 6 men looking totally lost at the Post Office and that they probably were illegal as they looked like they had just swam in (dripping wet and covered in sand) and his reply was........wait for it..........."well there is nothing I can do because Immigration probably wont come and get them for 24-48 hours so if we pick them up we would have to house them and feed them"

Unbelievable!!!

It's not like the St John holding cell is bursting at the seams !!!

Pia

And that's why people stateside question the police on the islands. That just wouldn't happen around here. Police are more involved.

Even in Sanibel, Florida, a favorite now for boat people because Miami is so patroled. In July when we were down there in the middle of the night, a whole boat of men, women and children got on shore and it got crazy. Helicopters, boats, police vehicles. Never saw anything like that especially on Sanibel which is so quiet all the time.

Just what do the police do down on STJ and STT?

Interesting. In Virginia the local police are not empowered to enforce immigration law, that's a Federal responsibility.

Cheers, RickG

I asked the original question because it doesn't seem to make sense to check passengers/bags going from STT to STJ (wrong direction if attempting to sneak into the country) as it would seem checking going from STJ to STT would make sense.

The newspaper article sounded like they were checking going from STT to STJ - strange direction for a TSA check.

Connie,

I beg to differ on the response of local police in regards to possible illegals on the mainland. Coming from Oklahoma it is only within the past few months that local and state police were allowed to take people suspected of being illegal into custody and it took the City of Tulsa and the State of Oklahoma to pass laws to change that. As early as this time last year Tulsa was being flooded with illegals and the city and state services were being overloaded. There was a law that was passed allowing city, county and state officers to arrest people suspected of being in the US illegally. Additionally, there are more punishments for hiring illegals and I believe you can be fined for housing them. This law came about after a series of events involving illegals and run ins with officers, a murder, a drunk driver who was in an accident that killed a child and let out of jail never to be seen again, and several others. Local officers would find trucks full of illegals, and not be able to do anything with them until the laws changed. It had been a big issue for several years.

In response to these new laws? When I was in Tulsa in December I could tell the number of Hispanics was down in my area of town, which had traditionally had a growing population. Friends in the housing industry are having trouble filling certain types of jobs that were being done by Hispanics. People have come out for it and against it. With even the Catholic Church putting its opinion in now. I do believe the laws are being challenged in court also.

Now whether that is the situation here in the USVI, I do not know. But, it is possible local police are limited by what they can do. As many mainland police officers are still limited.

Is it really that difficult to not go of on a tangent - I wasn't discussing undocumented workers in Tulsa or anywhere in the US or USVI - I was asking something specific to the instance about TSA searches (and also not asking about whether or not STJ police should do anything... we are all aware that doing nothing is status quo for them).

I was curious to understand whic direction TSA was searching - as it made no sense to check going from STT to STJ as this would be backward as to the direction people (and things) would go if trying to sneak into this area.

Now... back to our regular scheduled programming

"I was curious to understand whic direction TSA was searching - as it made no sense to check going from STT to STJ as this would be backward as to the direction people (and things) would go if trying to sneak into this area."

Sneaking people and things STJ to STT isn't TSA's only concern. TSA has found, for example, people who commute from STT to work on STJ carrying illegal items.

With all the construction on St John it is safe to say that a majority of the workers may be illegal. This is why they check from STT-STJ.

Thanks - that is what I was the info I was looking for. It was tough to tell if the TSA check in RedHook was inbound or outbound.

Also, according to the news article I read, illegal drugs were found. And at least one person just "took off' when he saw the action.