Over the weekend, border officials detained 23 individuals in an unsuccessful smuggling attempt near the California shoreline.

According to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), air and marine units intercepted a panga-style boat on Saturday, positioned just west of San Clemente Island, close to San Diego.

Around 1 p.m., the crew halted the vessel, discovering 23 unauthorized migrants aboard.

Officials reported that those apprehended were traveling in a panga-style craft off the coast of California.

The detainees were subsequently handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in San Diego.

The group consisted of both men and women.

In February 2025, the mayor of San Clemente, a coastal city just north of San Diego, told Fox News Digital about an uptick of panga boats that often came ashore to drop off illegal migrants who then disappeared inland.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection building (Getty Images)

“We’ve had a large increase in the number of pangas that have come up on our beach,” Steve Knoblock said at the time. “It happens, and nobody seems to notice. No one seems to capture it. There’s no interdiction, and we’ve been having them with much greater frequency.” 

In 2021, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) warned of increased sightings of pangas being used for smuggling in Southern California. The fishing boats are used by smugglers to transport migrants and illegal drugs, according to ICE. 

At the time, ICE said around 90 migrants were caught along the coastline of Los Angeles County on the Palos Verdes Peninsula and in San Pedro, Long Beach, Malibu, Santa Catalina Island and Newport Beach in Orange County. 

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