Feds Foil Maritime Human-Smuggling Run Off Coast

SAN DIEGO, CA —U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers halted a maritime human smuggling attempt west of Point Loma early Friday at the outset of a planned three-day multi-agency crackdown on the dangerous practice of illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border by sea.

Two of the 21 people aboard the small vessel intercepted roughly 11 miles off the coast of southern San Diego County are suspected of leading the attempt to sneak into the United States by boat and will face federal smuggling charges, agency spokeswoman Jackie Wasiluk said.

The crew of a CBP patrol airplane spotted the skiff in the ocean with no navigational lights late Thursday night, and personnel aboard a Customs boat intercepted it and took the occupants into custody without incident about 1 a.m., Wasiluk said.

U.S. Border Patrol agents determined that all the detainees -- 15 men and six women -- are Mexican nationals with no legal status to enter the United States.

So far this fiscal year, the Border Patrol has documented 157 maritime smuggling events in the San Diego area, according to CBP officials.

"These vessels are dangerously overloaded and unsafe in the ever- changing ocean conditions," said Aaron Heitke, chief USBP agent for San Diego. "Smugglers exploit migrants and put lives in significant danger for their own profit."

Federal authorities plan to ramp up their anti-maritime-smuggling enforcement operations this weekend, officials announced Friday morning.

"We've seen a dramatic increase in the number of maritime smuggling attempts recently,* Heitke said. "All of these illegal crossings at sea are inherently dangerous, and we have seen too many turn from risky to tragic as smugglers sacrifice the safety of those on board for the sake of profits."

Through Monday, federal law enforcement authorities will dedicate extra resources to coastal patrols covering the land, air and sea, according to CBP public affairs.

"Safety of life at sea is our highest priority," said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Timothy Barelli, commander of USCG Sector San Diego. "Interdictions of suspected human smuggling at sea are as much rescues as they are law enforcement operations. There is grave risk of capsizing, hypothermia and drowning."

— City News Service