REGION: Feds target surge in water-borne smuggling
Boat discovered at Torrey Pines this week is latest example
By DAN SIMMONS - Staff Writer | ∞
Coastal interceptions (smugglers) in San Diego County. (North County Times graphic) More illegal immigrants are crossing from Mexico to San Diego County by sea this year and more are getting caught, federal law enforcement officials say.
The officials point to tighter controls at land crossings as the underlying cause for a spike in the water crossings, most of which take place aboard rickety boats that smugglers readily abandon.
"It's a measure of the level of desperation smugglers are experiencing since the land border (between the U.S. and Mexico) has gotten so tight," said Vince Bond, spokesman for the San Diego office of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
Other means of skirting the border, especially tunneling, also have seen a significant increase this year, Bond said.
The latest example of the surge came Monday morning when an unmanned 26-foot fishing boat suspected by federal authorities to be smuggling illegal immigrants washed ashore near Torrey Pines, officials say.
Through June, federal agents have seized 11 suspected smuggler boats in San Diego County waters and arrested 50 people aboard them for illegal entry or smuggling, according to Juan Munoz-Torres of the U.S. Customs and Border Protection's Air and Marine Branch.
Illegal drugs were found on just two of the boats, continuing a trend toward more human smuggling and less drug smuggling by sea, he said.
The mid-year numbers show a stepped-up pace over 2007, when during the same period eight vessels had been seized and 35 arrests had been made, Bond said. For all of 2007, agents seized 17 boats in county waters and arrested 85 people related to the smuggling, according to Munoz-Torres. That was up from 2006 when nine boats were seized and 29 people were arrested at sea, he said.
On the water, smuggling activity has been affected by high fuel prices, said Keley Hill, the border protection's director of marine operations in San Diego. The cost of filling a boat's tank has resulted in fewer legal boats on the water, making it harder for smuggler boats to blend in among the sea traffic during the day, Hill said.
In an attempt to thwart the patrol boats, Hill said, smugglers are increasingly making their runs at night, usually in boats bought at auction for about $1,500. The boats are half as long and one-tenth as powerful as the 39-foot, 900-horsepower "go-fast boats" the federal agents drive.
The smugglers typically run lights-out to avoid detection and bob in the swells to hide, he said.
Their runs have become more organized and lucrative due to the increased demand, officials say. Just two years ago, Hill said, the going rate was about $900 per rider. Now, he said it's between $2,400 and $4,400.
The boats usually carry four to eight immigrants, he said, giving smugglers a profit ranging from $10,000 to $35,000 for a night's journey.
The most popular landing spot for the smuggler boats continues to be an approximately 5-mile stretch of shoreline from Dog Beach in Del Mar to Torrey Pines, Hill said. Most of the seized boats have been in the North County waters or beaches, although Imperial Beach also gets its share, he said.
The North County landings have been the norm since last fall, Munoz-Torres said.
Previously, the smugglers "would go one mile out to sea, turn toward the coast and land in San Diego," he said. But beefed-up staffing since last summer has put more federal agents and boats on the water, he said, and led to a longer arc by smugglers.
"Now they go 10, 15, 20 miles before they turn, so they end up farther north," Munoz-Torres said.
The rise in water-borne smuggling has been noticeable since the May 2006 launch of Operation Jump Start along the San Diego-Tijuana border, which put more Border Patrol agents and National Guard troops on the U.S. border, Munoz-Torres said.
Other recent measures have tightened the land border even more, Bond said. Starting in February, U.S. citizens were no longer able to pass north through the border without a government-issued identification. That ended the practice of allowing people to vouch for their resident status without having to show any identification.
The agency also has dramatically stepped up background checks of immigrants at the border, Bond said, which has made it harder for immigrants with previous criminal records or immigration holds to gain entry.
With the increasing squeeze at the land border, he said, more smugglers are taking to the seas in the old boats ---- and putting the lives of their passengers at risk, he said.
"It's certainly a dangerous way of bringing people into the United States," he said.
Contact staff writer Dan Simmons at (760) 740-5426 or dsimmons@nctimes.com.
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This isnt even funny wrote on Jul 9, 2008 1:23 PM:anymore, Mexico wants to stop the guns from entering their country from the USA, tell the nut cases in Washington to inform the mexicans to secure their northern border like they do their southern border with troops with the orders to shoot to kill.
To This isnt even funny wrote on Jul 9, 2008 2:42 PM:You have a very valid point... What a corrupt country!
JALISCO JUAN wrote on Jul 9, 2008 4:04 PM:My first try at posting was dumped, probably because it's pro open borders and the NCT blog editor favors the opposite. I said that unauthorized crossing of the border will continue, and perhaps by balloon and a million other ways. Or how about coming across legally on a work permit or visa and just never going back to wherever? That's the status of many undocumented, including Canadians and many others. I said before that the North American Union is forming. Anybody can check that out with very little effort. Then: NO BORDERS and the Amero will replace the dollar and the peso. Canada, USA and Mexico all one country united, all for one and one for all. I favor Guadalajara as the NAU Capitol. Remember that people from all over the USA migrated to California Norte illegally and their descendants now yap about how awful it is that Latinos come to what is rightfully their own country!
Native wrote on Jul 9, 2008 4:25 PM:Now we know what my ancestors felt like when they saw boat loads of invaders from Europe.
I lived in Puebla Mexico wrote on Jul 9, 2008 4:28 PM:for FOUR YEARS. Mexico has a culture of corruption from the top down. They are exporting it to the United States and from the way our government is working lately I would say we are adopting their values.
Law wrote on Jul 9, 2008 4:48 PM:If you care about the US, call your congressmen and demand they support the double layer border fence bill H.R. 4987.
This is the most important issue facing the U.S. today for the south of the border illegal's, assimilation into our culture is not what they want. As evidence the push for Spanish as this countries second language shows their lack of willingness to assimilate.
Two languages at work cause inefficiencies that can cause our business to fail, and I am living that nightmare at work in San Diego.
Roberto wrote on Jul 9, 2008 5:58 PM:Better still instead of shoot and kill tell Mexico we don't want their oil and trade. They should really look a forming a socialist government like Venezuala and Cuba....Stop all trade and isolate the border...right at Disneyland!
Bob wrote on Jul 9, 2008 8:48 PM:Build the fence :)
Floyd wrote on Jul 9, 2008 9:12 PM:If they're being smuggled in, they're not immigrants. They're trespassers.
Angela wrote on Jul 9, 2008 11:03 PM:The most popular landing spot for the smuggler boats continues to be an approximately 5-mile stretch of shoreline from Dog Beach in Del Mar to Torrey Pines, Hill said.
Do you know why they land there? Because they just have to cross the coast highway into the lagoon area and they are in the clear. That area has their sanctuary campground "McGonigle Canyon" which the police allowed for years not to mention the sex trafficking of you Hispanic girls which was ignored.
Not sure how you would know if they are smuggling more people than drugs as most of the boats are found abandoned- empty.
anon wrote on Jul 10, 2008 3:52 AM:Give me your cars, your BOATS, your SUV's. Can't these boats be traced? Who do they belong to?
And any law enforment wrote on Jul 10, 2008 6:24 AM:office can arrest anyone on treaspassing on american soil. Write the police chief and the city clowns and mayor you want this law enforced! Remind them this is a state law not a federal law and they have taken oaths to uphold local and state laws.
Concerned One wrote on Jul 10, 2008 8:10 AM:With jobs drying up and ICE cracking down it's a wonder why the illegal invaders keep coming... Thank you legislators, as long as you keep getting elected, it's all good. Regards, C-1.
fedup wrote on Jul 10, 2008 8:24 AM:jeez, Dan get the story right! They are ILLEGAL ALIENS (aka criminals), not immigrants.
Build a Fence wrote on Jul 10, 2008 8:41 AM:To all the Minutemen who want to build a fence, I ask you, just how far out to sea is this fence going to go? To Hawaii? Face it, a fence is not the answer. Illegal immigration will not be stopped by a fence. There's been a fence at the border for decades and it hasn't worked.
Geronimo wrote on Jul 10, 2008 8:57 AM:My people felt the same way when my native land was invaded by the white man. They brought disease that we had never seen before and broke every treaty ever written. They are the orginal scapler that killed the buffalo for there skin only. THEY CAME BY BOATS!
Subjectivity wrote on Jul 10, 2008 9:28 AM:Most people see things only from their own point of view. "I lived in Puebla" says "we are adopting their values", but the opposite is the case. Corruption in Mexico is caused largely by U.S. demand for illegal drugs and U.S. drug money. If we were really interested in stopping the drug murders and smuggling we'd either stop using drugs or legalize them. But hey, go ahead and pretend "Americans" are without fault if it makes your miserable life a little better.
To Geronimo wrote on Jul 10, 2008 9:40 AM:tell ya what, you give us the beads back and we will give you back long island.
Partys Over wrote on Jul 10, 2008 10:08 AM:I guess they haven't heard that the American spending party is over. No more equity in our homes to tap, our wages are stagnant, health care, gas, food and energy prices are increasing at staggering porportions, our jobs are being outsourced and many are losing their homes to foreclosure. Oh, maybe they are coming to buy a foreclosure...
ToBuild a Fence wrote on Jul 10, 2008 10:46 AM:Your dribble about the fence not working is a smoke screen.
Once the fence is built all we need to watch is the coast.
Compared to inland, most of the coast is populated where it would be much easier to catch illegal's.
Out on the water boats stand out and can be spotted miles off shore.
Also it costs a lot more for the traffickers to go by sea thereby reducing the number of crossings.
To Geronimo wrote on Jul 10, 2008 11:47 AM:You drank all our whiskey!
What, you want more.
No OPEN BORDERS wrote on Jul 10, 2008 12:04 PM:To Jalisco Juan, pro open borders:
Undocumented = Illegal, PERIOD.
What happened and how it happened 200 years ago has NO bearing on the current situation. My great-great grandmother can through Ellis Island legally, made her children speak English, assimilated into the existing culture. She did NOT try to change the culture that she chose to move to, she learned the ways of the country she came to love.
Borders and Fences are NEEDED to protect this country. Un tie the hands of the Border Patrol and allow them to do their job, ANY WAY they need to... KEEP OUT ILLEGALS.
Build a fence says... wrote on Jul 10, 2008 2:39 PM:My dribble? A smoke screen? Please.
Your assertion that "once the fence is built all we need to watch is the coast" is laughable. That logic prevailed when the first fence went up, the one that now looks like swiss cheese. And "boats stand out" in the water and "can be spooted miles off shore"? You are kidding, right? The article says they cruise without lights, miles off shore, in tiny boats that can hide in ocean swells.
Pro-fence forces never let a few good facts get in the way of their agenda.
To Build a Fence wrote on Jul 10, 2008 5:37 PM:Check border patrols stance on border fences and you will find they found fences drive illegal's off to open unprotected areas.
That sinks your fences don't matter reasoning, or should I say lack of reasoning.
As for boats on the water, ever hear of night vision?
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