Smugglers Head to the Pacific, Ferrying People From Mexico to the US

Article publisher: 
Insight Crime
Article date: 
24 May 2021
Article category: 
National News
Medium
Article Body: 

A boat that capsized off California’s shores carrying some 30 people, who paid more than $15,000 each to be shuttled from Mexico to the United States, offers the latest evidence of how smuggling operations are heading out to sea.

Maritime smuggling attempts – such as one in which three people died after their vessel hit rocks – have seen a “dramatic increase” this year, according to officials with the San Diego Sector of US Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Figures from the San Diego Sector show that agents have made 909 arrests at sea and seized 76 vessels this fiscal year, which began in October 2020, according to data provided to InSight Crime by CBP officials.

Meanwhile, 2021 is already on track for a 40 percent uptick in maritime arrests....