A Coast Guard cutter stopped a boat suspected of smuggling 11 people claiming Mexican nationality Saturday morning about 22 miles west of La Jolla, a spokesperson said.
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The crew on Cutter Active spotted the boat on radar during a routine patrol near the international border, said Petty Officer Charlie Valor. As they approached it, they saw the vessel was running with no navigational lights, which is illegal, and Coast Guard crew members boarded the vessel to investigate.
Five suspected undocumented immigrants were taken onto the Cutter Active, and six were transferred to another nearby cutter. All 11 and their the boat were taken to Ballast Point in San Diego, where they were transferred to Border Patrol custody.
The interdiction was at least the Coast Guard’s fourth in about a week near the southern border.
The Cutter Robert Ward intercepted seven people aboard a 20-foot, white center-console boat, approximately 8 miles south of Point Loma last Sunday, according to a news release. Also that day a boat crew from Coast Guard Station Los Angeles-Long Beach removed nine people who had been aboard a recreational vessel, about 3 miles south of the Alamitos Bay entrance.
Last Monday, a crew aboard a Coast Guard boat that is part of the Maritime Safety and Security Team in Los Angeles/Long Beach interdicted five people aboard a 20-foot pleasure craft, approximately 4 miles southwest of Point Loma.
In each case, the vessel’s occupants claimed to be Mexican nationals, and they were turned over to the Border Patrol.