One Still in Custody After St. John Immigration Enforcement

Of the roughly 400 people stopped and questioned by federal agents at the St. John car ferry Sunday, only one remains in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, officials said Thursday.

Immigration agents briefly detained approximately 49 other people, verifying their government-issued documents before letting them leave, said Homeland Security Investigations Public Affairs Officer Sandra Colón. The one person remaining in custody was being held at an ICE detention facility, Colón said without specifying which one. ICE has two facilities in Puerto Rico, the San Juan Staging Facility and the ICE Immigration Detention Center in Maleza Baja, on the island’s extreme west end.

News of the immigration action sent shock waves through the community with rumors of raids on hotels and hardware store parking lots. Immigration and criminal defense attorney Robert A. Leycock said Thursday his office had received many calls from worried people — some too frightened to even leave their homes. Colón declined to say where ICE agents were active but the Source called five hotels on St. Thomas and St. John Sunday and no one answering the phone had seen or heard of any immigration enforcement activity.