Eight people arrested after suspected smuggling attempt in San Diego’s Mission Bay

SAN DIEGO (FOX 5/KUSI) — Boats used in suspected smuggling attempts have been spotted on beaches across San Diego County over the past week, including one attempt spotted in Mission Bay during the busy Fourth of July holiday weekend.

Federal officials said migrants were seen running from the suspected smuggling boat after it landed in Mission Bay around 11 a.m. Sunday.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection detained eight people and took them to a facility for processing and deportation, but this was not the only incident since last Monday.

A video taken around 8 a.m. on July 1 in Solana Beach shows a Border Patrol agent investigating another stranded boat suspected of being used for smuggling. It is unclear how many people were on board and whether any were arrested.

This was one of two incidents on July 1, authorities said. San Diego Fire-Rescue crews confirmed another suspected smuggling incident occurred in the city of San Diego’s jurisdiction near Dog Beach in Ocean Beach. No one was rescued or made contact with lifeguards.

“I believe most of these landings or sea crossings are planned,” said Pedro Rios, director of the American Friends Service Committee.

Rios told FOX 5/KUSI he wasn’t sure if they were using the Fourth of July Independence Day as an opportunity to smuggle, but noted that there has been a general increase in smuggling activities by sea, and that they are consistently dangerous.

“I’m concerned that this dangerous way of crossing the border is becoming the norm,” Rios said. “This is a phenomenon that has been going on for years when it comes to how migrants – mostly Mexican migrants – enter the United States.”

The incidents during the holiday week reached their peak about three months after a video circulated online showed migrants running from a boat into an SUV on a beach in Carlsbad.

At the time, San Diego County Executive Jim Desmond called the incident an example of a broader rise in human smuggling at sea, saying those efforts had increased by about 139% since 2020.

“The dangers are everywhere,” Rios said. “People have died, people have drowned.”

In recent years, including 2021, federal authorities have announced that they will provide additional resources during the July 4 holiday to monitor smuggling activities on land, in the air and at sea.

However, Rios said there had been no comparable efforts this year or in recent years.

In a statement, a CBP spokesperson said the agency is “utilizing all available resources and partnerships to combat cross-border smuggling operations off the coast of California.”

“The agency continues to deploy increased personnel, transportation, processing and humanitarian resources to the most active and distressed areas along our borders, where migrants are often mercilessly housed by for-profit smuggling organizations without adequate preparation,” the statement continued. “This includes increasing the deployment of resources and personnel to affected sectors to ensure safe, expeditious and orderly processing of individuals to expedite removals.”