Federal agents stopped three overcrowded smuggling vessels off the California coast in a series of coordinated operations this month. Sixty people were taken into custody across a five-day window, many of them carrying prior criminal records.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations unit carried out the interdictions between April 17 and April 21 alongside the U.S. Coast Guard, according to a CBP announcement reported by Fox News. All three vessels were packed with passengers attempting to enter the country illegally by sea.
The first boat was spotted on the afternoon of April 17, when an AMO aircrew detected a 24-foot vessel south of the maritime boundary line. CBP’s San Diego Marine Unit moved in and intercepted it near San Clemente Island, finding 13 people on board — seven men, five women, and one juvenile female. Agents brought the vessel and everyone aboard to Ballast Point Naval Base for processing by U.S. Border Patrol.
Second boat carried 29 people, Coast Guard stepped in
The following day brought a larger catch. An AMO aircrew picked up a second vessel roughly 80 nautical miles southwest of Point Loma. The Long Beach Marine Unit, working alongside the Coast Guard Cutter Florence Finch, tracked the boat to near San Nicolas Island and stopped it. Twenty-nine Mexican nationals were on board. The Coast Guard moved the group and the vessel to Newport Harbor, where they were handed over to Border Patrol, according to the CBP press release.
The third operation wrapped up on April 21. The Coast Guard Cutter Terrel Horne, guided by an AMO aircrew, intercepted a 25-foot cuddy cabin boat that had first been spotted the day before off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico. Eighteen Mexican nationals were found aboard. They were also transported for Border Patrol processing.
Many of the 60 had criminal histories
CBP said a number of the individuals taken into custody had prior criminal records. The offenses listed spanned from drug possession and drug trafficking to felony hit-and-run, aggravated assault with a weapon, domestic violence, burglary, and possession of burglary tools. Some also had active warrants.
“These interdictions show the great lengths dangerous criminals will go to avoid apprehension, including taking to the open ocean in unsafe, overcrowded vessels,” Air and Marine Operations Southwest Region Executive Director Hunter Robinson said in a statement. “Their desperation puts lives at risk. Our crews are dedicated to stopping these dangerous individuals far from shore to keep our communities safe.”
CBP indicated many of those apprehended had criminal records, consistent with CBP’s own release. This is not the first such multi-agency sweep off the Southern California coast in recent months. Back in February, CBP, the Coast Guard, and the Navy jointly intercepted five suspected smuggling vessels near San Clemente Island in a single weekend, taking 82 people into custody.
Border encounters at record lows under Trump
The April operations come as overall border crossings have dropped sharply. The Department of Homeland Security said in a recent statement that encounters during the first six months of the current fiscal year are the lowest on record, a trend the agency attributes to enforcement policies under the Trump administration. California law enforcement has seen unusual incidents tied to on-duty misconduct too, with the state making national headlines in recent months for a range of stories involving officials behaving badly. And off-beat crime stories out of California continue to go viral, reflecting the state’s outsized presence in national news.
The Front Feed reached out to CBP and the U.S. Coast Guard for comment, but they did not immediately respond.
