Border authorities apprehended 23 illegal immigrants over the weekend in a failed alleged smuggling operation off the California coast.
US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) air and marine crews detained a panga-style vessel Saturday just west of San Clemente Island near San Diego, according to the agency.
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When a crew apprehended the boat about 1 p.m., they discovered 23 illegal immigrants on board.
They were handed over to US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Diego.
The apprehended illegal immigrants looked to be all men and women.
In February 2025, the mayor of San Clemente, a coastal city just north of San Diego, warned Fox News Digital about an increase in panga boats that frequently came ashore to drop off illegal migrants before disappearing inland.
“We’ve had a large increase in the number of pangas that have come up on our beach,” Steve Knoblock said at the time. “It happens, and nobody seems to notice. No one seems to capture it. There’s no interdiction, and we’ve been having them with much greater frequency.”
In 2021, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a warning about the rising sightings of pangas used for smuggling in Southern California. According to ICE, smugglers utilize fishing boats to transfer migrants and illegal substances.
At the time, ICE reported that around 90 migrants were apprehended throughout the coastline of Los Angeles County on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, as well as in San Pedro, Long Beach, Malibu, Santa Catalina Island, and Newport Beach in Orange County.
