Amid mass deportations, a boat packed with migrants intercepted trying to get into the US
Even as the Trump administration's mass deportation of undocumented migrants was unfolding, the U.S. Coast Guard announced it had intercepted a boat packed with migrants off the California coast.
A 40-foot panga-style boat attempting to smuggle migrants into the United States was stopped by two Coast Guard cutter crews Monday night about 20 miles off the coast of San Diego, the Coast Guard said in a statement released on Tuesday.
"The boarding teams discovered 21 individuals aboard the panga. Initial interviews revealed that all individuals claimed Mexican nationality, although subsequent checks identified two passengers as Guatemalan and Salvadoran nationals," Coast Guard officials said.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents alerted the Coast Guard at about 10:45 p.m. local time on Monday that a boat was detected, prompting the Coast Guard to launch two cutters to find the vessel, authorities said.
The human smuggling boat was intercepted while it was traveling north about 40 miles south of the maritime boundary line, according to the Coast Guard.
The individuals aboard the boat were brought to shore and turned over to the custody of Border Patrol agents, according to the Coast Guard.
"These operations highlight the coordinated efforts between agencies to secure our maritime borders," the Coast Guard said in its statement.
The Coast Guard reported a 400% increase in smuggling cases along the San Diego coast since 2018, including almost 150 cases in the last three months.
Monday's incident came amid a massive nationwide crackdown on undocumented migrants ordered by President Donald Trump.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have rounded up thousands of migrants this week in raids across the nation, including in New York City, Chicago and Miami. In one New York City raid, ICE agents arrested a 25-year-old purported Venezuelan gang member wanted in connection with a home invasion and kidnapping in Aurora, Colorado, officials said.
The White House said it is targeting migrants accused of violent crimes. But when asked by ABC News at a press briefing Tuesday to clarify how many of the migrants detained in the sweeps had criminal records as opposed to those who were only in the country illegally, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded, "All of them because they illegally broke our nation's laws and therefore they are criminals."
New York Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul addressed the raids during a news conference this week, saying, "My understanding is they had specific names of people who have committed crimes, serious offenders. And those are exactly the people that we want removed from the state of New York."
