A dozen illegal immigrants brazenly arrived in the US by taking a speedboat to a California beach, nearly hitting people in the water, and then escaping in cars.
The boat missed what appeared to be a surfer in the water by a few meters as it zoomed past and approached the beach at very high speed.
After beaching the ship on the sand, the migrants disembarked and sprinted to the row of oceanfront homes on Saturday.
Another video showed them being picked up by waiting black SUVs in Carlsbad, a beach town about 30 miles (48 kilometers) north of San Diego.
The cars took off in such a hurry that one woman almost fell out when the car started moving before she had fully climbed into the back seat.
Locals who filmed the migrants claimed that police were called but did not show up.
The images are the latest in brazen attempts by migrants to cross the border illegally. While most try to sneak from Mexico across the land border into the U.S., others, like the boaters, are trying new methods.
A dozen illegal immigrants brazenly arrived in the US by taking a speedboat to a beach in California
The boat missed what appeared to be a surfer in the water by a few meters as it zoomed past and approached the beach at very high speed
Illegal immigrants like those on the boat were not counted among the 6,997 asylum seekers who surrendered to San Diego Border Patrol in the first week of April.
Migrants can seek asylum in the US by crossing the border and immediately reporting to law enforcement.
However, a smaller number sneak into the country illegally without intending to follow the asylum procedure.
The nearly 7,000 migrants from 70 countries were more than other sectors typically receive in an entire month.
The San Diego sector, which includes most of Southern California’s border with Mexico except El Centro and Calexico, has received 6,000 to 8,000 immigrants in recent weeks.
After beaching the ship on the sand, the migrants disembarked and sprinted to the row of oceanfront homes on Saturday
Another video showed them being picked up by waiting black SUVs in Carlsbad, a beach town about 30 miles north of San Diego.
The cars took off in such a hurry that one woman almost fell out when the car started moving before she had fully climbed into the back seat.
What makes the April 3-9 numbers so significant is that they were the highest in the country, even beating the top-ranked sector in Tucson.
The Arizona sector had only 6,600 migrants, but regularly there are as many as 11,000.
The Border Patrol divides the border into “sectors” or regions, with San Diego the third busiest according to the latest figures, but that could change.
“Tucson has been the top sector for migrants since July 2023, but numbers have fallen,” said Adam Isacson of the Washington Office on Latin America.
“Although one week of data is not sufficient evidence, it is possible that San Diego will displace Tucson as the number one sector.”
With so many migrants entering the country through Southern California, migrants who have been vetted by the U.S. Border Patrol are being released onto the streets.
The county’s migrant shelter closed a few months ago after local leaders decided they didn’t want to spend the $18 million a year needed to keep running it.
“It was costing us about $1.5 million a month at that point to essentially be their travel agent,” San Diego County Commissioner Jim Desmond said.
Without the local shelter, migrants are released by border patrols at a transit station or at the airport.
“The biggest burden here lately has been our airport. Fortunately, many of them fly to other parts of the country, but we are a tourist community. People who come to San Diego see all the people sleeping there. It looks bad,” the commissioner added.
“We just can’t keep it up; we can’t manage the numbers coming here.”
Migrants have been known to crash at the airport for up to five days while waiting for a flight out of town, Desmond added.
The weekly figures do not include migrants who legally entered the US with CBP One Appointments at the San Ysidro Port of Entry between Tijuana, Mexico and San Diego.
At least 77,000 migrants entered Southern California this way from October to February, according to federal statistics.
Migrants with hand luggage are stopped at the border in El Campo on March 13
US Border Patrol took into custody 6,997 migrants from April 3 to 9
Encounters with migrants in the San Diego sector (shown above) have steadily increased since 2021. Last week, the region had 6,997 in just one week, according to federal statistics
The latest figures from Customs and Border Protection show that the agency encountered 189,922 people at the southern border in February.
In this budget year alone, the agency has encountered more than 1.1 million people at the border – which began for the government last October.
The record high figures of migrants crossing the US-Mexico border have migrated top care in this US presidential election year.
“Our immigration system… is fundamentally broken, including our asylum system which has such a major impact on the security of our borders and the processes we manage within them,” Immigration said. Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said this last week.
“Only Congress can fix our broken and outdated system, and only Congress can meet our need for more Border Patrol agents, asylum officers and immigration judges.”
The United States is expected to struggle with more than 8 million asylum seekers and migrants crossing the southern border by September.
The staggering figure represents a 167 percent increase in five years and underlines the challenges facing an immigration system that is both underfunded and outdated.
The vast majority of the nation’s 8 million people are now free to walk America’s streets, including 2 million “high priority” cases of career criminals seeking asylum.
The United States is expected to struggle with more than 8 million asylum seekers and migrants crossing the southern border by September.
The staggering figure represents a 167 percent increase in five years and underlines the challenges facing an immigration system that is both underfunded and outdated.
Migrants crossing the border often have to wait several years for a decision on their application. They have now been released onto American streets.
Recent data shows that the backlog has only increased during President Joe Biden’s term in office, reflecting in part the difficulties his administration has faced in addressing the unprecedented influx of migrants, mainly from Central and South America .
At the end of fiscal year 2023, on September 30, more than 6 million people were enrolled in what officials call the “non-incarcerated roll.”
According to administration projections, as communicated in homeland security documents sent to Congress, this number will rise to 8 million by October 1.
The vast majority of the nation’s 8 million people are now free to walk America’s streets, including 2 million “high priority” cases of career criminals seeking asylum.