Maritime routes on both coasts continue to be used for illegal immigration into the U.S. from Mexico, Central America, Bahamas and the Caribbean. Yesterday's stories involved smugglers who were transporting their "human cargo" for the money and had little regard for their safety. Fortunately, these two cases resulted in rescues and repatriation of the migrants as well as arrest of the smugglers.
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Coast Guard Rescues 24 On Migrant Smuggling Boat
January 8, 2010
SAN DIEGO — The United States Coast Guard rescued 24 people from a migrant smuggling boat off San Diego's coast. The arrest Thursday night is part of a continuing trend of smuggling by sea.
US Coast Guard officials said someone on the boat called 911.
The person said the boat was disabled and adrift and they needed to be rescued.
A Coast Guard cutter and helicopter found the vessel about four miles off the coast of Point Loma.
Jetta Disco with the Coast Guard said the boat was overloaded. It was 20 feet long and carrying two dozen people.
"They were definitely cold. It was cold. And, you know, because it was foggy out there was dampness on them," she said. "Some of them were shivering. But they were very grateful to be rescued."
Smuggling illegal immigrants by sea has been on the rise in San Diego since the fall of 2008.
Local Customs and Border Protection officials say they arrested 430 people between October 2008 and October 2009. That's nearly double the number of arrests compared to the previous fiscal year.
Coast Guard returns Cuban 15 migrants stopped off shores of Miami
The U.S. Coast Guard has returned a group of Cuban migrants who were stopped eight miles away from the shores of Miami.
Fifteen migrants and two smugglers were aboard the Abbey Road. The migrants were sent back last week to Bahia de Cabañas in Cuba, the Coast Guard said. The accused smugglers face federal prosecution.
More than two dozen migrants were sent to Bahia de Cabañas on Dec. 22 after the Coast Guard stopped a stolen 35-foot boat about 40 miles southwest of Cuba. One of the two suspected smugglers in that case was arrested on federal charges.
-- ROBERT SAMUELS
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