unusual activity cotton valley ???

I saw them in a convoy yesterday at 5:25 headed east. I police SUV with lights flashing followed by 3 white vans with blacked out windows, followed by 2 more police SUV's.

Biden hiding out here?

Sounds like what they do when Biden visits.

Could have been drug raids. I heard that they were sending the choppers over to STX like they did in STT/STJ in August......

Probably not Biden. No TFR's were issued.

Saw them heading this way around 10:00
Police card, vans and other govt cars.
All cars pulled over thinking a funeral.
Around the cv area.

Also saw around 5:00 30-40 young adults
Carrying back packs close coakley bay
Condos. Standing along road in a group.
What was up?

Looked like boat people

just read on a facebook post by "the st. croix think tank" that a group of cubans came ashore at coakly bay.thats all i know.

A friend of mine said just prior to all of the PD activity, he saw a group fitting this description walking up the driveway immediately to the west of the Due estate. (The restored plantation house with all of the bougainvillea in front of it) Sounds like it may have been a group of boat people.

In an unrelated matter, DEA copter has been hovering (<50 feet) over the center of the mangroves in the Great Pond. Might be a drop zone, or the like?

That's where I saw them by due's estate.
They looked confused .

In an unrelated matter, DEA copter has been hovering (<50 feet) over the center of the mangroves in the Great Pond. Might be a drop zone, or the like?

That was a search and rescue helo - not DEA.

Apparently it was a group of Cuban boat people. I'm not sure why they'd come to St. Crisis. Haven't they heard about how bad it is here? Had they known, they'd likely stay in Cuba.

Two unrelated events.

First, St. Croix is hosting this year's annual meeting of the Coral Reef Task Force, whose guests include many dignitaries. Many of their activities so far have involved the East End Marine Park, which has been organizing this year's event. The police "motorcade" of vans with tinted windows shows up whenever they are going into the field. Yesterday's trip to Cotton Valley (Hope and Carton Hill, actually) was to see the site of the Hope and Carton Hill Watershed Management Plan and learn about our particular challenges with development and road maintenance, and hopefully, get some help in those areas. Anyone who is interested can see the watershed management plan for the area by visiting the Yellowcliff Hope and Carton website and downloading the document. yellowcliffhopeandcarton.org

Second, a bunch of undocumented immigrants came ashore at Coakley Bay last night.

Apparently it was a group of Cuban boat people. I'm not sure why they'd come to St. Crisis. Haven't they heard about how bad it is here? Had they known, they'd likely stay in Cuba.

The USVI is attractive because it's the US and not well-guarded, so they can get their "dry foot" on shore. From here, they get officially processed as entering the US and usually go to the states.

"undocumented immigrants" makes it sound like they lost their paperwork.

Two unrelated events.

First, St. Croix is hosting this year's annual meeting of the Coral Reef Task Force, whose guests include many dignitaries. Many of their activities so far have involved the East End Marine Park, which has been organizing this year's event. The police "motorcade" of vans with tinted windows shows up whenever they are going into the field. Yesterday's trip to Cotton Valley (Hope and Carton Hill, actually) was to see the site of the Hope and Carton Hill Watershed Management Plan and learn about our particular challenges with development and road maintenance, and hopefully, get some help in those areas. Anyone who is interested can see the watershed management plan for the area by visiting the Yellowcliff Hope and Carton website and downloading the document. yellowcliffhopeandcarton.org .

And we give at least police escorts to visitors? That will give them something to talk about - like how they NEEDED police escorts in this lawless land.... 🙂

And we give at least police escorts to visitors? That will give them something to talk about - like how they NEEDED police escorts in this lawless land.... 🙂

The police escort is merely for smooth and efficient traveling. One of the attendees is the Ass't Secretary of the Interior, another is the Ass't Secretary of Commerce (NOAA deputy administrator), and another is the governor of Guam, who traveled 26 hrs to get here. It would be a shame to waste these people's time stuck behind a taxi van on Centerline.

This is the 2nd time the refugees came in at Due's area. 2nd that I have seen. Must be a popular drop point.

does anyone know if they were indeed from cuba,how many,what happened etc.?

i briefly read on the avis - 35 ppl arrived from cuba. Took them a week to get here.

35 people fleeing Cuba by boat land on northeast side of St. Croix

BY FIONA STOKES (DAILY NEWS STAFF) Published: November 15, 2013 ST. CROIX - Federal authorities have begun processing 35 Cubans who were discovered on the island's northeastern side just before midnight Wednesday. Jeffrey Quiñones, U.S. Customs and Border Protection spokesman, said Thursday that field operations officers took custody of the 35 Cuban migrants who reportedly landed in Coakley Bay. He said V.I. Police Department officials notified CBP officers at Rohlsen Airport that they had arrived at Coakley Bay area where they found a group of 13 women, 21 men and one child, all of whom were in good health.

Residents reported seeing the group sitting on the lawn area of a East End restaurant some time after midnight, surrounded by several police and CBP vehicles and officers. Others reported that the group later was seen about 2 a.m. sitting outside of the Immigration and Custom Enforcement Office in Sunny Isle and that many of them were still wet from their sea travels and had spread their clothes out to dry as they rested.

The group was transported to the airport during the early morning hours Thursday for immigration processing and will be permitted to remain in the United States under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, which is a 1994 amendment of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. The policy allows Cubans fleeing their country who make it onto U.S. soil a chance to remain in the country and seek permanent residency, while those intercepted at sea are sent back to Cuba or to another country. Marcelino Borges, director of CBP Field Operations in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, said migrant smuggling ventures at sea are illegal and discouraged because they place many vulnerable people in harm's way, but fortunately this group of migrants was lucky. "Our goal remains to arrest and obtain a conviction against smugglers who violate our laws," he said. Borges said that two Haitian migrants died on Nov. 8 attempting to reach the island of Mona between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic and this also could have been the fate of the 35 migrants from Cuba.

According to the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, smuggling by sea accounts for only a small portion of overall migrant smuggling around the world, but the particular dangers of irregular travel at sea make it a priority for response because more deaths occur by sea than by way of any other smuggling.

The group of Cubans found late Wednesday night was the third set of Cubans to land on the island's northeastern side in just more than six months. A group of 18 Cubans was seen walking along the road March 17, and another group of 20 were discovered June 10. Both groups were processed and sheltered by local churches before moving on to the mainland U.S., where they had made contact with family members and made arrangements to travel there. While some of the migrants who arrived Wednesday night filled out documents for emergency assistance at the American Red Cross on Thursday, others were taken to St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church, where a health fair was ongoing as part of an international mission trip.The migrants underwent basic health screenings, including glucose and blood pressure checks, according to Colleen Azubike, chairwoman of the St. Luke AME Health Commission.

The Cubans probably have seen that are boarders are porous compared to Puerto Rico or Florida, so they are using the Virgin Islands, especially St. Croix, to gain entry to the US and then meet up with family and/or friends in the states. It doesn't look at all that they are staying and settling down in the US Virgin Islands. Off to Florida, is my best bet.

gotta love wet foot dry foot for the "undocumented"

gotta love wet foot dry foot for the "undocumented"

Works only for Cubans.

"remain in the United States under the "wet foot, dry foot" policy, which is a 1994 amendment of the Cuban Adjustment Act of 1966. The policy allows Cubans fleeing their country who make it onto U.S. soil a chance to remain in the country and seek permanent residency, while those intercepted at sea are sent back to Cuba or to another country."