Sometimes they're intercepted out at sea, or they capsize along San Diego beaches.
Whenever small boats potentially being used for human smuggling show up on the Southern California coast, Customs and Border Protection or Coast Guard crews work to stop them in their path and apprehend people on board.
"What we normally see is the Coast Guard will turn people over to Border Patrol for immigration processing,” said Pedro Ríos with the American Friends Service Committee.
WATCH: See the full report with more perspective from Ríos below
Rios is an immigrant rights advocate. He says passengers are usually taken to shore and driven to one of seven border patrol stations for processing. The Coast Guard says the exact station depends on where they were apprehended.
“The processing involves asking them who they are, getting their identifying information, including sampling of DNA, and they’ll look at what their immigration history might be, if there have been other encounters with those individuals,” Rios said.
Rios says agents try to identify whether this was a maritime smuggling incident and who was responsible. That person could face criminal charges, including participating in organized crime or human trafficking.
“After they spend time in prison, if they are not U.S. citizens, they likely will face immigration consequences, which is removal from the United States.”
Rios says if passengers are undocumented immigrants who haven't been previously apprehended and have no criminal history, they are usually quickly processed and deported to their country of origin.
In some cases, they are held in detention to speak as witnesses in court proceedings.
“They will also be there for the purpose of providing their testimony to authorities about who might be involved in the smuggling event.”
In tragedies like the one on Monday morning, where there’s no one to answer questions, Homeland Security Investigations can take over to pursue the mastermind behind it all.
RELATED COVERAGE:
- US Coast Guard triples fleet to prevent smuggling of undocumented migrants
- FEB. 2025: Panga boat washes ashore on Dog Beach with 6 people aboard
- MARCH 2023: 8 people dead after two panga boats capsized near San Diego's Black's Beach
- APRIL 2022: One dead, three hospitalized when panga boat capsizes near OB pier
- MAY 2021: 1 dead in suspected smuggling incident involving panga boat off La Jolla coast
