Illegal Immigrants Caught on a Yacht, in a Web of Maritime Laws (New York Times)

Illegal Immigrants Caught on a Yacht, in a Web of Maritime Laws
By KIRK SEMPLE
Published: July 27, 2010

Gaea Rich and her family were in full holiday mode aboard their yacht on the Fourth of July as they motored from Stamford, Conn., across Long Island Sound and into Oyster Bay, off the North Shore of Long Island.

The trip, with more than 15 relatives and friends, was supposed to be the high point of a weekend family reunion. But a few hours into the cruise, after what began as an apparently routine stop by a marine patrol of local and federal law enforcement officials, two passengers — a Guatemalan caterer hired for the day and Ms. Rich’s boyfriend, David Quinn, an Irishman who had worked for years as a horse-carriage driver in Central Park — were taken away on a police boat by federal immigration officials. Both men were illegal immigrants; they now face deportation.

The yacht had been caught in a web of laws, little known outside the maritime community, that are meant to keep a tight leash on vessels that are registered in foreign countries or have traveled in international waters. And the boarding and interrogations on a pleasure craft came as quite a surprise to passengers.

“We couldn’t believe it,” recalled Ms. Rich, 28, a fashion designer for Ralph Lauren. “Everyone was just shocked.”

The boat is registered in the Caribbean nation of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and owned by Ms. Rich’s uncle. He keeps the boat moored mostly in American waters: Stamford in the summer and Florida in the winter.

Many American yacht owners register their boats in foreign countries, often for tax purposes. That was her uncle’s reason, said Ms. Rich, adding that her uncle did not want to be interviewed or identified.

Federal maritime law requires that foreign-flagged vessels contact customs officials when they arrive at American ports, even if arriving from another American port. Immigration officials are permitted to board foreign-flagged vessels anytime, said Officer John F. Saleh, a spokesman for United States Customs and Border Protection. Coast Guard officials, who joined in the stop, are allowed to board any vessel at any time in American waters.

Maritime laws and their enforcement have tightened since 9/11. In the past several years, for example, the Coast Guard division on Staten Island — which patrols New York Harbor, the western half of Long Island Sound and the southern Hudson River — has stepped up its scrutiny of smaller foreign-flagged vessels, said Charles Rowe, a spokesman for the Coast Guard in New York City.

Mr. Rowe said that under the program, “Operation Small Fry,” Coast Guard officials, along with federal and local law enforcement personnel, have boarded about 750 such boats a year, to enforce customs, immigration and maritime laws.

Several marina managers in the New York area said they had heard complaints from exasperated owners and operators of foreign-flagged yachts about repeated boardings and laborious permit regulations.

It is frustrating for those with foreign flags, said the manager of a luxury marina in the Hamptons, who insisted on anonymity to avoid offending any of his clients. But, he added, “They really can’t complain because the reason they’re foreign-flagged is to avoid paying taxes.”

The owners and operators of the largest yachts are well acquainted with the rules and their enforcement, maritime experts said. “These guys are prepared for this stuff,” said Lucy Reed, editor of The Triton, a monthly magazine read largely by the captains and crews of private yachts. “They know what they need to have, for the most part, to cruise in U.S. waters.”

It was unclear whether Ms. Rich’s uncle had been aware of the rules.

The July 4 incident began about 1:30 p.m. when a boat operated by the Nassau County Police Department pulled alongside the 63-foot yacht as it entered Oyster Bay. On the police vessel were customs and Coast Guard officers, Officer Saleh said; he did not provide more details about the stop. The Nassau police said they were assisting Customs and Border Protection and referred all inquiries to that agency.

Ms. Rich said the officers seemed unfamiliar with the St. Vincent flag, “and wanted to see my uncle’s cruising license.” Immigration officials took one catering worker, a Hispanic woman, to a room below deck and interviewed her for about half an half before determining that she was in the United States legally, Ms. Rich said.

The officers then asked all the other passengers — some of them foreign citizens with green cards or work visas — for government-issued identification. When Mr. Quinn and the catering worker were unable to produce proof that they were in the country legally, the officers took them below deck, Ms. Rich said.

Mr. Quinn “came up after 20 to 30 minutes and he said, ‘I guess I’m going home,’ ” she recalled. “And I said, ‘You’re joking, right?’ ” Mr. Quinn’s expected deportation, Ms. Rich said, has severely complicated their budding relationship. The romance began in late March when Ms. Rich spotted Mr. Quinn, 30, tending his horse and carriage on Central Park South, near her office. She returned a few days later with a friend, and rented his carriage for a spin around the park.

“We were the last ride of the day, and invited him to come up to a bar after he’d finished stabling his horse,” she recalled. “It was a romantic night.”

Ms. Rich said she soon learned about Mr. Quinn’s immigration status. He had arrived in the United States in 2003, joining several siblings who had become American citizens, and overstayed his tourist visa.

Mr. Quinn’s brothers asked the Rev. Brian Jordan, a Franciscan priest and an immigrant advocate, to help with the case. Father Jordan said he was indignant that the two men had been detained, considering recent directives by Immigration and Customs Enforcement giving priority to the apprehension of criminals.

“This is New York State,” Father Jordan said, “This is not Arizona.”

Federal immigration officials would not comment on the case. On Thursday, after requests by his lawyer, Zachary Sanders, and lobbying of the Department of Homeland Security by Father Jordan, Mr. Quinn was released for 45 days to prepare for deportation to Ireland.

Mr. Quinn said in an interview on Monday that he was hoping to find a way to remain in the United States. If unsuccessful, he said, he would accept the deportation and try to return legally. “I’m doing the best that I can,” he said.

He said that he was held in the same detention center, in Elizabeth, N.J., as the catering worker, but that the worker was not granted a similar temporary reprieve. (Neither Mr. Quinn nor Ms. Rich knew the worker’s name.)

Mr. Quinn said that he had not considered trying to legalize his status through marriage, as some immigrants do.

“I was waiting for the right woman,” he said. “And this is what happened to me: a bit of bad luck. And I thought the Irish had the good luck.”