January 21, 2009

Two Florida men plead guilty to human smuggling charges

MIAMI- Two Florida men pleaded guilty here earlier this week to human smuggling charges following a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) investigation. 

Osmin Nodarse, 41, and John Sosa, 26, admitted that on Oct. 10, 2008, they traveled in two separate vessels to Freeport, Bahamas, for the purpose of picking-up and transporting Haitian nationals to the United States. 

Upon their arrival in Freeport, Sosa and Nodarse loaded 25 Haitian nationals onto their two boats knowing that the Haitian nationals had no authorization to enter the United States.  After loading the 25 Haitian nationals onto their vessels, Nodarse and Sosa began their trip to Miami in an effort to bring the 25 Haitian nationals to the United States. 

Later that same day, Nodarse and Sosa were interdicted by U.S. authorities while traveling toward the coast of Florida. 

The vessel captained by Nodarse was stopped by the U.S. Coast Guard 30 nautical miles off the coast of Boca Raton, Florida. 

The vessel captained by Sosa was interdicted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection five nautical miles east of the coast of Fort Lauderdale.  None of the 25 Haitian nationals found onboard the two vessels had legal permission to enter the United States and all were processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers for removal from the United States.

-- ICE --

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was established in March 2003 as the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security. ICE is comprised of five integrated divisions that form a 21st century law enforcement agency with broad responsibilities for a number of key homeland security priorities.

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