US Authorities Intercept 3 Smuggling Boats, Arrest 60 Individuals

U.S. border authorities interdicted three vessels smuggling foreign nationals in three separate incidents off the Southern California coast this week and took 60 individuals into custody.

The first interdiction took place on April 17 when the CBP’s Air and Marine Operations (AMO) San Diego Marine Unit crews intercepted a 24-foot vessel near San Clemente Island. Agents took the individuals to Ballast Point Naval Base to be processed by Border Patrol, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in an April 24 statement. In total, 13 people were apprehended in this incident, including seven males, five females, and a juvenile female.

The following day, the AMO Long Beach Marine Unit crew and U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Florence Finch intercepted a vessel near San Nicolas Island, taking into custody 29 Mexican nationals, who were transported to Newport Harbor to be turned over to Border Patrol.

And on April 21, an AMO crew, together with U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Terrel Horne, intercepted a 25-foot boat that was detected earlier off the coast of Ensenada, Mexico. Authorities apprehended 18 Mexican nationals and transported them for processing.

“Some of the individuals have criminal histories for offenses including failure to yield, driving under the influence, felony hit-and-run, making false police reports, drug possession, active warrants for resisting arrest, trespassing, burglary, possession of burglary tools, receiving stolen property, drug trafficking, aggravated assault with a weapon, and domestic violence,” CBP said.

CBP’s AMO is tasked with safeguarding the United States from the air and sea. The agency interdicts unlawful individuals and cargo approaching American borders, responds to contingencies, and investigates criminal networks.

AMO employs more than 1,800 federal agents and mission support personnel, and has 300 marine vessels and more than 200 aircraft operating across the United States, Virgin Islands, and Puerto Rico.

In fiscal year 2024, the agency’s enforcement actions resulted in the apprehension of 48,609 illegal immigrants and the seizure of hundreds of thousands of pounds of narcotics.

Commenting on the recent three interceptions of smuggling vessels, AMO Southwest Region Executive Director Hunter Robinson said, “These interdictions show the great lengths dangerous criminals will go to avoid apprehension, including taking to the open ocean in unsafe, overcrowded vessels.

“Their desperation puts lives at risk. Our crews are dedicated to stopping these dangerous individuals far from shore to keep our communities safe.”

According to a Feb. 20 update by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), human smuggling is a multibillion-dollar industry for transnational criminal organizations and a major threat to American security.

ICE said smuggling not only brings foreign nationals into the United States illegally, but is also a gateway crime for other criminal offenses, including terrorism, illegal immigration, identity theft, financial fraud, and gang activity.

Smugglers can “move humans as part of cargo transports in vehicles, boats, tractor-trailers and boxcars on trains, and in automobiles and trucks that are transported as cargo on trains,” ICE said. These criminals “provide fake identification documents to those being smuggled, co-opting government officials, altering and falsifying government documents, and stealing identities.”

The smugglers “charge vulnerable individuals a lot of money to be smuggled into the United States, often in unsafe conditions,” ICE said.

“The smugglers are not concerned about whether people are safe; they just want to be paid.”

Human Smuggling

The Trump administration has taken several actions against organizations involved in human smuggling.

On April 14, the Treasury announced sanctions on six targets, including individuals and businesses, linked to Cartel del Noreste, one of the “most violent drug trafficking organizations” in Mexico.

One of the sanctioned individuals is in charge of the cartel’s human smuggling operation in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico, overseeing smugglers and granting permission to move migrants, according to the Treasury. The individual acted as a “gatekeeper for human smuggling along the Rio Grande into Texas,” the Treasury said.

“As President Trump has made clear, Treasury will use all tools to protect our nation from violent cartels looking to reign terror on innocent Americans,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.

“Treasury will continue to target the diverse revenue streams that cartels rely on to sustain their operations, which include trafficking fentanyl and illegal aliens into the United States.”

In October 2025, the Department of the Treasury announced that its Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned the Mexico-based transnational criminal organization Bhardwaj Human Smuggling Organization, as well as its leader, three individuals, and 16 companies for facilitating and profiting from criminal activities.

The organization “smuggled thousands of illegal aliens from Europe, the Middle East, South America, and Asia into the United States,” the Treasury said.