Smuggler Busted with 12 Migrants in Sailboat Off California Coast

San Diego Sector Border Patrol agents stopped a previously deported child sex offender from making his way successfully back into the U.S. The agents also disrupted a human smuggling event after a Coast Guard vessel stopped a sailboat loaded with 12 illegal immigrants off the California coast.

San Diego Sector officials reported Wednesday that agents patrolling in East County San Diego early Saturday morning spotted a man about six miles inland from the Mexican border. The agents identified the man as a 53-year-old Honduran national with no documentation allowing his presence in the U.S. After transporting the man to the station, a biometric background investigation revealed a criminal history.

Agents learned that a New Hampshire court convicted the Honduran national for Aggravated Felonious Sexual Assault against a child in 2008, according to information obtained from San Diego Sector Border Patrol officials. The New Hampshire court sentenced the criminal alien to six to 12 years in state prison. Immigration officers removed the man in November 2015.

The following day, Border Patrol agents were notified of a human smuggling incident intercepted by a U.S. Coast Guard cutter. The cutter encountered a sailboat with 13 people off the coast of Point Loma, California. Only one person was visible during the Coast Guard’s initial contact with the sailboat.

After boarding the pleasure craft, officials report that the Coast Guardsmen found 12 additional people onboard. The guardsmen suspected a human smuggling operation and transported the sailor and his passengers to the Coast Guard Station where Border Patrol agents carried out immigration interviews.

The agents determined the group to consist of nine Mexican national males, ages 18-51, and two Mexican national females, ages 24 and 26. The passengers also included a 40-year-old Salvadoran male and a 20-year-old Salvadoran female. The boat’s captain also admitted to being illegally present in the U.S.

The agents transported all thirteen to the Border Patrol station for processing. The captain of the boat also faces charges of human smuggling. Officials did not disclose the fate of the boat.