Feds capture eight Cuban immigrants
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Eight Cuban immigrants wait to be taken into custody after eluding immigration officials Sunday.
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MIAMI, Florida (CNN) -- Eight Cuban immigrants who came ashore north of Miami were in federal custody Sunday after initially eluding police and immigration officials.
"We have in custody seven males and one female. They are being processed at Pembroke Pines station and eventually they will be sent to Krome detention center," said Keith Roberts, a Border Patrol spokesman in Miami.
The Cubans came ashore about 7:15 a.m. in the Miami suburb of Hollywood, Roberts said.
They were on board a 19-foot motorboat, and investigators believe they were brought to Florida by smugglers, he said.
"We have reason to believe it was an organized smuggling effort," he said. "We're still following up on the investigation."
The Cubans face charges of illegal entry into the United States. But under the government's "wet-foot, dry-foot policy," Cubans who reach the mainland are generally allowed to stay in the country once processed.
Those intercepted at sea are returned to Cuba.
