8 Dead After Suspected Migrant Boats Crash Near US Coast: Officials

San Diego police confirmed that eight people died when two suspected smuggling vessels carrying illegal immigrants collided with the coast.

According to Richard Brahm (U.S Coast Guard Petty Officer), a woman riding on one of these panga-style boats called 911 late Sat. to report that another vessel had been overturned by waves off Blacks Beach.

“The woman who called stated that the boat that overturned had 15 people on it, but that was just an estimate,” Brahm spoke.

Eight bodies were pulled from the sea by the Coast Guard and San Diego Fire-Rescue teams. However, thick fog prevented further searches for victims. Brahm reported that officials hope to fly helicopters in the area when the weather improves.

Illegal immigrants travel frequently on panga boats, which are designed to transport them from Mexico to Southern California. It’s unclear if any arrests were made, or if authorities have determined the nationalities and deaths of the victims.

Monica Munoz, spokeswoman for San Diego Fire-Rescue Department told Newsweek that after 911 was rung, lifeguards couldn’t access the beach because of high tides.

The lifeguards “proceeded north on foot wading through knee- to waist-deep water,” she . “After a couple hundred yards, lifeguards on the beach reached dry sand and then began to find lifeless bodies and two overturned pangas spread over an area of about 400 yards.”

“Lifeguards pulled victims from knee-deep water and from the waterline up the beach to dry sand,” She added. U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers later found an eighth victim dead.

Newsweek reported that they also discovered barrels of fuel and life jackets in the search.

Illegal border crossings have increased dramatically since President Joe Biden was elected in 2021. Many illegal immigrants turned themselves in to Border Patrol officials to be allowed into the United States to file their immigration cases.

But a federal judge last week struck down the administration’s program of releasing many illegal immigrants rather than holding them until their court cases. In a harsh ruling, the judge argued that this rule was in violation of federal law.

“The evidence establishes that Defendants have effectively turned the Southwest Border into a meaningless line in the sand and little more than a speedbump for aliens flooding into the country,” T. Kent Wetherell (U.S. District Judge) was appointed by Trump. ruling.

In the meantime, a pandemic-related regulation that will end May 11 denials illegal immigrants and asylum-seekers based on the possibility that they can spread COVID-19 currently exists

This report was compiled by the Associated Press.