Crisis in California: Migrant boat landings bring ‘chaos’ to San Diego beaches
Illegal immigrants are increasingly risking the Pacific Ocean to sneak into the United States, endangering themselves and marine agents, according to border officials.
Leaders in the San Diego area called for stronger border enforcement Monday evening after a motorboat loaded with suspected illegal immigrants ran ashore on a Carlsbad beach over the weekend.
"We have no idea who they are, we have no idea where they are, and these people were not vetted at all," San Diego County Supervisor Jim Desmond said at a press conference Monday evening, calling the boat landing a "coordinated effort."
Video shared widely on social media showed a boat speeding between surfers before running ashore on Saturday. More than a dozen people jumped off the boat and ran into the city, with some hopping into waiting cars.
CBP's Air and Marine Operations use radar and cameras to detect migrant vessels in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego. Crews in the air coordinate with the Coast Guard and land-based Border Patrol agents to interdict boats. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection)
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Migrants have long sneaked into the U.S. by way of the Pacific Ocean, but over the last three years, California has seen an "exponential increase in maritime smuggling," Brandon Tucker, director of Customs and Border Protection’s Air and Marine Operations in San Diego, said.
Since fiscal year 2020, maritime smuggling events — which can also include trafficking drugs and other contraband — in California have increased nearly 140%, according to CBP.
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"That happens all the time," El Cajon Mayor and congressional candidate Bill Wells told Fox News Digital. While out sailing, Wells said he and his family had to throw life preservers to a group of suspected migrants whose boat had capsized.
"If I’m seeing that in the harbor on the one time a year that I go out … you know it’s happening every single day," he said.
Desmond previously told Fox News it is "untenable and unsustainable to have people just coming in and walking into neighborhoods from another country."
"Quite frankly, it's pretty scary I would think, for the people living right along the coast," he said.
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During Monday's press conference, Desmond and other leaders called for federal authorities to bolster border security.
"The chaos at the border and the fact that many of these crossers know there'll be no consequences here encourages this, and it makes our cities less safe," Oceanside Deputy Mayor Ryan Keim said, according to local news reports.
California state law bars local police from working with Border Patrol and other federal agencies to enforce immigration laws. Desmond said the latest viral boat landing shows that it's time to end "incentives" and sanctuary for illegal immigration.
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"The fact that many people have come here is primarily because we put out the red carpet," he said.
Also on Monday, Democratic Rep. Mike Levin, whose district includes Carlsbad, called on House Speaker Mike Johnson to bring to a vote a resolution doubling the range in which Customs and Border Protection agents can operate along the coast, from 12 to 24 nautical miles.
Approximately 30 migrants lined up in an empty parking lot near Jacumba Hot Springs, California, on March 27, 2024. Border Patrol agents have encountered record numbers of illegal immigrants in the San Diego area in recent years, straining both federal and local resources. (Hannah Ray Lambert/Fox News Digital)
Land border encounters in Southern California have also increased dramatically in recent years.
So far, the San Diego sector has seen more than 185,000 encounters in fiscal year 2024, up nearly 70% from the same period in 2023, according to CBP data.
Ramiro Vargas contributed to the accompanying video.