Five Dozen Migrants Nabbed After CBP Intercepts Smuggling Boats
About five dozen migrants were apprehended after U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials intercepted several smuggling boats off the coast of California.
In a press release issued Friday, it was revealed that officials from CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) division “interdicted three smuggling vessels” between April 17 and 21, 2026. Of the 60 migrants apprehended, some of them reportedly have “criminal histories for offenses including failure to yield, driving under the influence, hit-and-run, false police report,” as well as trespassing, burglaries and violence marital.
“These bans demonstrate how dangerous criminals go to great lengths to avoid apprehension, including taking to the seas aboard unsafe and overcrowded vessels,” Hunter Robinson, Southwest Region executive director of Air and Marine Operations, said in a statement.
On April 17, 13 migrants, including “seven men, five women and one young woman,” were apprehended on a boat “near San Clemente Island” by officials from the AMO’s San Diego Marine Unit.
The next day, officials from the AMO’s Long Beach Marine Unit, along with officials from the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Florence Finch, eventually intercepted a boat “near San Nicolas Island.” This resulted in the arrest of “29 Mexican nationals.”
In another case, on April 21, the Coast Guard Cutter Terrel Horne, which was “guided by an AMO crew, interdicted a 25-foot hug cabin,” resulting in the apprehension of 18 Mexican nationals.
