Spike in Immigration Cases Prompts Judge Molloy to Rotate Matters to Magistrates Across USVI

Amid a flurry of immigration cases being filed in the St. Thomas/St. John Division of the District Court of the Virgin Islands, Chief Judge Robert Molloy is assigning matters to magistrate judges on a rotational basis.

In an order filed on April 7, Judge Molloy declared that there is an “inordinate number” of cases being filed in the St. Thomas/St. John division. He therefore said that moving forward, immigration cases – matters brought under Title 8 of the United States code, Section 1325 a) – will be assigned “to magistrate judges in the District of the Virgin Islands on a rotational basis.”

In this manner, magistrates across the district have been empowered to try these matters, no matter which division – St. Croix or St. Thomas/St. John – they are assigned to. This move is “in order to maintain the proper administration of justice and to appropriately allocate court resources,” said Judge Molloy.

The recent deluge of such matters shows no signs of slowing down. At least two people were arrested at the Cyril E. King Airport after Customs and Border Protection officers determined they had no legal status to be in the country.

Yesica Perez Pie, a citizen of the Dominican Republic, was arrested on April 4th when she arrived at CEKA for a flight to Miami, Florida with onward connection to Hartford, Connecticut. At the airport, she was directed to secondary screening to determine her legal status.

Ms. Perez Pie reportedly admitted to entering the United States illegally just over two years ago. She said that she left her home country on April 1, 2023, on a flight to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands. Immediately after arriving in Tortola, she crossed over to St. John by boat. The illegal boat crossing coast her $8000, Ms. Perez Pie reportedly told CBP officers. In her passport, agents found a BVI entry stamp dated April 1, 2023.