JUNO BEACH, Fla. — Multiple undocumented migrants are in custody after an overnight landing Monday in northern Palm Beach County.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents and local law enforcement were at the scene south of the Juno Beach Pier where a sailboat came ashore.
WATCH BELOW: 9 migrants in custody after sailboat comes ashore in Juno Beach
The capsized boat was found beached with one person inside.
A few migrants were also seen walking through nearby neighborhoods and were taken into custody by Border Patrol, according to the sheriff's office.
Agents said they arrested nine undocumented migrants from Haiti and will seize the vessel involved.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office said they also assisted U.S. Customs and Border Protection in locating the migrants.
"I WOULD CALL IT AN INVASION"
A woman named Sue, who didn't want to give WPTV her last name, said she woke up to helicopters and law enforcement circling her neighborhood.
"I wouldn't call it immigration," Sue told WPTV reporter Joel Lopez. "I would call it an invasion."
She lives in a beachside condo near where the migrants landed.
"I thought, well, are those people hiding in the bushes or what's going on?" Sue said. "It was nerve jarring to know that on my property, maybe my neighbor's property, are we safe? I say no."
Nettie Sabin and Linda Turney are visiting the area from Chicago and were collecting seashells Monday on Juno Beach.
"People do a lot of things for their freedom. I don't think we should persecute immigrants," Turney said. "They are coming from a nation, I believe, that is persecuting them."
The couple feel the abandoned sailboat personifies the desperation of people in Haiti who are ravished by poverty, violence and political turmoil.
"It's really bad," Sabin said. "I think they were really brave to try and come here despite everything that's going on."
A suspected migrant landing was investigated Friday on Palm Beach after a boat came ashore about 2 miles south of Mar-a-Lago.
