CARLSBAD, Calif. -- Border Patrol agents arrested 20 Mexican nationals, including a documented gang member, after the group arrived by boat on a North County beach early Monday, authorities reported.

The federal officers were patrolling in the area when they spotted a skiff landing at South Ponto Beach in Carlsbad about 2:40 a.m., according to Customs and Border Protection public affairs.

The agents went to the area and arrested 16 men and four women, all of them in the country illegally.

By the time the Border Patrol officers arrived, two suspected smugglers had re-launched the boat and fled. Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection marine-interdiction personnel conducted an ocean search but were unable to find the smuggling suspects or their small vessel.

While processing the detainees at a local Border Patrol station, agents identified one of them, 26-year-old Carlos Henriquez-Perez, as a gang member. He was booked into federal jail pending prosecution for re-entering the United States following deportation proceedings.