US Coast Guard Rescues 37 Illegal Immigrants

The U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) interdicted an adrift vessel off California last week that was carrying 37 suspected illegal immigrants.

On Friday, the Coast Guard Sector Los Angeles–Long Beach authorities received a message from the operator of a 30-foot vessel, 88 miles southwest of Channel Islands Harbor, claiming that the ship had been drifting without fuel, water, and food for two days. The people aboard also lacked personal safety equipment, USCG said in a Sept. 1 statement.

By night, USCG crews had located the vessel and boarded it, identifying 37 suspected illegal immigrants. All individuals were rescued and transferred aboard Coast Guard Cutter Sockeye. The individuals were transported to Coast Guard Base Los Angeles–Long Beach, from where they were sent to Border Patrol personnel.

“I could not be prouder of the Coast Guard crews on scene who were directly responsible for 37 lives saved last night,” Master Chief Peter Nelson, Sockeye’s officer in charge, said in the statement.

“Despite operating far offshore in rough conditions at night, they persevered until every person in danger was rescued. Their extraordinary professionalism, superb judgment, and impeccable seamanship shined throughout the entire case,” Nelson said.

In another recent interdiction operation, the Coast Guard intercepted a makeshift vessel off Puerto Rico last week, according to an Aug. 28 USCG statement.

The “grossly overloaded” 22-foot vessel carried 19 individuals, including two minors, all of whom claimed to be from the Dominican Republic, the USCG said. Sixteen of the individuals have been repatriated to their home nation.

Last year, the Coast Guard interdicted or transported more than 11,000 illegal immigrants, according to a Jan. 13 post by USCG.

The agency has faced criticism over how it has tackled the maritime illegal immigration issue over the years. A Jan. 13 report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), which assessed USCG’s performance between fiscal years 2015 and 2024, said that the agency needed to improve its maritime interdiction efforts.

The report highlighted that the Coast Guard failed to meet its primary illegal immigrant interdiction target for six years during the period.

According to GAO’s analysis of USCG data, the Coast Guard failed to meet its migrant interdiction target for fiscal year 2015. It then lowered the target and met the goal in 2016 and 2017. However, in the four years between fiscal years 2018 and 2021, the Coast Guard again failed to meet the lowered objective.

The service once more reduced the target, meeting the objectives for the next two years, but failing in fiscal year 2024, according to the report.

Moreover, due to limited resources, the Coast Guard made a trade-off to address a jump in maritime migration levels that began in 2021.

“Specifically, it redirected assets to migrant interdiction that it had originally allocated to other missions, such as drug interdiction. This impacted its ability to conduct those other missions,” the report said.

In 2025, the USCG saved 5,220 lives, according to the service’s website. The Coast Guard covered 95,000 miles of coastline and tackled 6,705 search-and-rescue cases during the year.

Meanwhile, Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced on Aug. 25 that four Customs Enforcement Areas have been established, and that it would work with the Coast Guard and other federal partners to crack down on the smuggling of people, drugs, and contraband into the United States.

The new Customs Enforcement Areas expand the CBP’s enforcement jurisdiction from 12 to 24 nautical miles in waters close to Puerto Rico, the Gulf Coast of Texas, Southern California, and South Florida.

“The ocean is not a safe haven for cartels and smugglers,” CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in the statement. “These designations give our agents the room to act sooner and stop threats before they reach the American people. If you are moving drugs, contraband, or people toward our shores, expect us to find you.”