North Port couple indicted for smuggling Cuban immigrants

NORTH PORT - A special agent for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detailed in federal court last week how a North Port couple led an operation to smuggle 150 undocumented Cuban immigrants into the United States.

According to a federal indictment, Carlos Velazquez-Roman, 52, and Jasmine Santos-Martinez, 40, both of the 4800 block of Kendsha Street, helped to organize the human trafficking operation from May 3 of 2007 until at least May 13 of 2013. Velazquez-Roman and Santos-Martinez have a common-law marriage.

Four other Floridians, from Port Charlotte, Miami and Hialeah, were also charged in connection with the smuggling ring.

The operation apparently involved smuggling Cubans by boat to the United States, holding them in North Port. They would then be taken to Miami to “stage” a landing so they could encounter the Border Patrol.

“Cuban migrants want to get encountered by the Border Patrol,” Special Agent Jennifer Silliman said, “because once they have landed here in the United States, they are allowed to stay.”

Silliman testified Tuesday and called Velazquez-Roman the “leader” of the operation.

The human smuggling ring operated out of a bright orange home in a North Port residential neighborhood. Neighbors said Velazquez-Roman and Santos-Martinez kept to themselves.

One neighbor, who did not want to be named, said an older woman whose backyard used to border the couple's backyard would always talk about the commotion she heard from the house.

“She said people were staying in the boat they had parked behind their house,” the neighbor said.

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