In a team effort, the Coast Guard and several Border Patrol agents recently apprehended 12 people who were caught midstream in an illegal marine voyage into the southern region of California.
At around 2:30 am on July 1, a Coast Guard cutter spotted a pleasure craft afloat without any navigation lights. The vessel was approximately 28 nautical miles west of Point Loma. Upon boarding the pleasure craft, the Coast Guard found 12 individuals aboard, all of whom are suspected of attempting to enter the United States illegally. In addition, the captain and his first mate will be facing charges of human smuggling.
After Coast Guard personnel had the stowaways sorted out, the foreigners were loaded into an Air and Marine operations boat nearby and escorted to Ballast Point, where Border Patrol agents took custody of them.
While these illicit marine migrations often float outside the scope of public perception, they are quite prevalent. At the beginning of June, The Department of Homeland Security had two very similar run-ins with these sea-smugglers.
Given how focused the media is on the rising tensions at the physical border, coupled with the recent advancements in submarine technology, will sea-smuggling become the future of illegal immigration?
