Migrants have used a boat to illegally sneak into the US in the latest brazen attempt to circumvent border security.
About 20 migrants sprinted off a boat after it docked at a marina on the tip of the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, California, on Thursday morning.
They climbed over fences and ran across the jetty towards the street, leaving the empty boat floating behind.
A white van slowed down on the street as they arrived, but it was unclear if it was there to pick them up.
Taking a boat around the border in California is an increasingly popular tactic for migrants who want to sneak in illegally, rather than claim asylum.
Migrants have used a boat to illegally sneak into the US in the latest brazen attempt to circumvent border security, jumping over fences as they fled
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes pointed to figures showing maritime smuggling incidents in California steadily rose from 308 in 2020 to 736 last year.
‘Maritime smuggling is up, and although our Harbor Patrol works to interdict vessels trafficking drugs and people, state restrictions on communications with federal partners hinder our efforts,’ he said.
‘The state should repeal laws that restrict communication with our federal partners.’
Former New Port Beach mayor and current city councilor said Will O’Neill said he and the sheriff blamed California’s ‘sanctuary state’ policy.
‘Our nation’s border crisis is serious, lawless, and dangerous,’ he said.
‘The approaches taken by the administrations in DC and Sacramento have made it significantly worse.
‘As it has been said, every city is now a border city. We must expect better from people in charge of enforcing our laws.’
About 20 migrants sprinted off a boat after it docked at a marina on the tip of the Balboa Peninsula in Newport Beach, California, on Thursday morning
A white van slowed down on the street as they arrived, but it was unclear if it was there to pick them up
Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes pointed to figures showing maritime smuggling incidents in California steadily rose from 308 in 2020 to 736 last year
Last month, a dozen migrants zoomed into a beach in Carlsbad, a town about 30 miles north of San Diego.
The boat missed what appeared to be a surfer in the water by a few feet as it zipped by and approached the beach at very high speed.
After beaching the vessel on the sand, the migrants got out and sprinted towards the row of oceanfront houses and were picked up by waiting black SUVs.
The cars left in such haste that one woman almost fell out as it started moving before she had fully clambered in to the back seats.
Migrants can seek asylum in the US by crossing the border and immediately presenting themselves to law enforcement.
However, a smaller number sneak in to the country illegally with no intention of following the asylum process.
The San Diego sector, which includes most of the Southern California border with Mexico except El Centro and Calexico, got 6,000 to 8,000 immigrants in recent weeks.
The boat missed what appeared to be a surfer in the water by a few feet as it zipped by and approached the beach at very high speed
After beaching the vessel on the sand, the migrants got out and sprinted towards the row of oceanfront houses on Saturday
With so many migrants entering the country through Southern California, migrants who are vetted by US Border Patrol are being released onto the streets.
The county migrant shelter closed a few months ago, after local leaders decided they did not want to spend the $18 million a year needed to keep running it.
‘It was costing us, at that point in time, about $1.5 million a month to basically be their travel agent,’ San Diego County Commissioner Jim Desmond said.
Without the local shelter, migrants are either being let loose at a transit station or at the airport by border patrol.
‘The biggest burden here lately has been our airport. Luckily a lot of them are flying to other parts of the country, but we’re a tourist community. People coming to San Diego, they see all the people sleeping there. It looks bad,’ the commissioner added.
‘We just can’t sustain it; we can’t manage the numbers that are coming here.’
The cars left in such haste that one woman almost fell out as it started moving before she had fully clambered in to the back seats
Migrants with carry-ons are apprehended at the border in El Campo on March 13
Migrants have been known to spend as many as five days crashing at the airport while they wait for a flight out of town, Desmond added.
Latest figures from Customs and Border Protection showed that in the month of February the agency encountered 189,922 at the southern border.
In this fiscal year alone, the agency have encountered over 1.1 million people at the border – which began for the government last October.
The record-high numbers of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border have made migration a top concern in this US presidential election year.
