Border Patrol agents arrested 20 people who arrived at Carlsbad State Beach in a fishing boat early Monday, including a member of a transnational gang, immigration officials said.

About 2:40 a.m., agents spotted a small, open-topped boat landing on South Ponto Beach, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release. Agents arrested 16 men and four women who disembarked, all Mexicans entering the country illegally, officials said.

Two suspected smugglers headed back to sea before agents approached. The Coast Guard and U.S. Customs and Border Protection Marine Interdiction agents searched the area, but couldn't find the boat, officials said.

One of the men apprehended, Carlos Henriquez-Perez, 26, is a member of the MS-13 gang, a violent transnational group with ties to California and Central America, according to the news release. Henriquez-Perez is facing prosecution for illegal re-entry after a prior deportation order.