Thread: CA-Smuggler boats, 23 illegal migrants found on north coast

Busy night: Smuggler boats, 23 illegal migrants found on north coast
By Debbi Baker

8:24 a.m. September 16, 2009

CARLSBAD — A search for immigrants believed to have disembarked from an abandoned boat early Wednesday morning led to the discovery of another boat and the arrests of 23 people.
Border Patrol agents and sheriff's deputies were searching the area near Ponto Beach after discovering the suspected smuggling boat onshore about 2:30 a.m., said Coast Guard Petty Officer Henry Dunphy.
They called the Coast Guard and asked for helicopter assistance in the search, Dunphy said.
No one was found on land, but officials did find another boat at 4 a.m. about eight miles offshore and a little farther south, Dunphy said.
Twenty-three people aboard the panga were apprehended and turned over to the Border Patrol, Dunphy said.
Ponto beach was the drop-off point for another group of suspected illegal immigrants in August.
Agents patrolling the coast Wednesday morning spotted the smugglers using a thermal scope and tracked their boat as it got closer to the beach.
Twenty-three Mexican nationals were apprehended as they waded onshore after being dropped off, Border Patrol officials said.
The boat got away.


http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/ ... ved/?metro

Aw! Those "immigrants" probably just came here to better their economic lives, get handouts and even free healthcare insurance.