As the legislative stalemate over funding the U.S. Department of Homeland Security continues, the agencies under its umbrella remain committed to securing the country’s borders.
Several recent water-based interdictions near San Diego indicate human smugglers are shifting from land to sea routes, but they aren’t giving up their lucrative operations. Instead, they’re packing migrants into small boats and embarking on dangerous voyages.
In recent weeks, U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations crews captured 60 people, mostly Mexican nationals, onboard three smuggling vessels spotted off the coast of Southern California.
CBP has joined forces with the U.S. Coast Guard to step up efforts to detect and deter the smuggling boats from reaching the California coast.
“These interdictions show the great lengths dangerous criminals will go to avoid apprehension, including taking to the open ocean in unsafe, overcrowded vessels,” said Air and Marine Operations Southwest Region Executive Director Hunter Robinson. “Their desperation puts lives at risk. Our crews are dedicated to stopping these dangerous individuals far from shore to keep our communities safe.”
Photos released by CBP show an overcrowded boat with people covering themselves with a tarp and putting their hands up as crews approach the vessel.
The 60 individuals were processed and identified, and many have criminal histories for various offenses including driving under the influence, felony hit-and-run, drug possession and making false police reports, CBP said in a news release.
Others had active warrants for resisting arrest, trespassing, burglary, possession of burglary tools, receiving stolen property, drug trafficking, aggravated assault with a weapon and domestic violence, according to CBP.
In the first incident on April 17, AMO’s San Diego Marine Unit crews interdicted a 24-foot boat near San Clemente Island with 13 people on board, including seven men, five women and one juvenile female. CBP brought the boat to Ballast Point Naval Base for processing.
On April 18, an AMO aircrew spotted another suspected smuggler boat about 80 nautical miles southwest of Point Loma. AMO’s Long Beach Marine Unit crew, with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Florence Finch, intercepted the boat near San Nicolas Island.
They found 29 Mexican nationals on board and took the individuals and the vessel to Newport Harbor to be turned over to the U.S. Border Patrol, CBP said.
A few days later, on April 21, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Terrel Horne, guided by an AMO aircrew, interdicted a 25-foot cuddy cabin first detected a day earlier off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico.
The Coast Guard discovered 18 Mexican nationals on board and transported them and the vessel for processing by U.S. Border Patrol.
In February, CBP and the Coast Guard intercepted several suspected human smuggling boats in the same area off the Southern California coast.
Crews apprehended 82 people who were trying to illegally enter the United States from Mexico, Central and South America and Africa with a range of criminal histories.
Meanwhile, the partial shutdown has stretched on for more than 70 days since the DHS’s annual budget failed to pass in mid-February as Democratic lawmakers have dug in their heels over reforms to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Several agencies within DHS still haven’t received funding as the partial shutdown drags on, meaning Federal Emergency Management Agency workers, civilians in the U.S. Coast Guard, and Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency employees are among those reporting for work without pay.
