A U.S. Customs and Border Protection marine unit rescued four migrants from a sinking boat off the coast of Texas. The Air and Marine Operations agents worked with the U.S. Coast Guard to carry out the rescue operation.
A CBP Air and Marine Operations Coastal Interceptor Vessel crew assigned to Brownsville near the Texas-Mexico border responded to a report from Fort Brown Station Border Patrol agents regarding a suspected human smuggling boat in South Bay.
The AMO crew and a U.S. Coast Guard vessel located the boat and noticed it was taking on water. The AMO crew placed the captain of the boat under arrest and rescued four migrants.
With one month to go in the official fiscal year reports, AMO agents carried out 425 rescue operations. This compares to 373 last year, 184 in FY 2020, and 377 in FY 2019.
In addition, AMO’s maritime and airborne operations led to the seizure of 257,000 pounds of narcotics. Agents participated in the seizure of 170,000 pounds of cocaine, 7,460 pounds of methamphetamine, 1,149 pounds of fentanyl, 381 pounds of heroin, and 77,951 pounds of marijuana, the report indicates.
AMO also operates a fleet of Unmanned Aircraft Systems to patrol the nation’s borders. During Fiscal Year 2021, the latest information available on the CBP website, AMO flew 2,505 Land Border Security Missions for a total of 9,159 hours. In addition, the agents flew 96 Maritime Border Security Missions for a total of 784 hours.