Jet ski, sailboat, fishing vessel: 3 immigration attempts (San Diego Union-Tribune)

Jet ski, sailboat, fishing vessel: 3 immigration attempts

By Morgan Lee

Originally published October 18, 2010 at 6:44 p.m

SAN DIEGO — Twenty-six illegal immigrants were apprehended over the weekend trying to reach the U.S. coast on water skis, a luxury sailboat and a small fishing vessel, only to be intercepted by federal agents, U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Monday.

After questioning two suspected illegal immigrants Sunday evening in a Mission Bay parking lot, agents seized a rented 40-foot sailboat on the bay, Border Patrol agent and spokesman Jerry Conlin said.

Eight male Mexican nationals and one Cuban man were arrested. Five of the arrests took place at a Mission Bay hotel where immigrants were being held, according to a news release by Customs and Border Protection.

The immigrant who rented the sailboat and hotel room was being held under provisions of U.S. alien smuggling law. The owner of the sailboat, estimated to be worth $300,000, can petition to get the vessel back if not directly involved in the smuggling attempt.

On Saturday, 13 Mexican nationals were taken into custody in the afternoon after a “panga”-style boat was spotted approaching the Torrey Pines State Beach, according to the statement.

Desperate migrants and their smugglers have increasingly been resorting to small, open fishing boats known as “pangas” to reach the coast of Southern California from Mexico.

The vessel at Torrey Pines was stopped from returning to sea by the Office of Air and Marine, a division of Customs and Border Protection.

Also on Saturday, four male Mexican nationals were arrested at Imperial Beach after being smuggled into the United States on two jet skis.

The detained migrants in all three attempts were transported to a local Border Patrol station.