An inflatable raft overloaded with nine people crossed the river from Canada into the United States, where they were captured by U.S. Border Patrol agents. The passengers sneaked into the U.S. early Saturday on a raft, powered by a small engine, that was "well beyond its capacity" in the number of passengers it was designed to hold, said Supervisory Border Patrol Agent Dan Allman. "This is pretty much standard operation," said Assistant U.S. Border Patrol Chief Don Palacios of the agency's Buffalo office. "The rafts they use are not of commercial quality and there is always the fear of them being overloaded or completely falling apart." Three women from India, a Pakistani family of four and two Canadians were taken into custody, Allman said | The Canadians would be the smugglers, the Indian women would undocumented immigrants, and the Pakistani family would be the unfortunate victims of profiling under the Patriot Act. |
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