This is the shocking moment Border Patrol agents busted a boat smuggling nearly two dozen illegal migrants off California’s coast last week.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations unit posted rare footage on Tuesday morning of the illegal vessel encounter.
The video shows agents from the Long Beach Marine Unit climbing aboard a boat approximately 12 nautical miles east of Catalina Island named “Gonna Miss Her” and apprehending two male suspects.
A quick search of the ship revealed a shocking find.
An agent opens a door to the ship’s forward hold to the faces of several shocked people with their hands up. Border Patrol then loads up the migrants and arrests them.
A San Diego Air and Marine Branch aircraft detected the vessel, officials said.
After making the arrests, officials transported the vessel to Newport Harbor in Newport Beach. The individuals who were apprehended were then handed to Border Patrol for processing.
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“THE BORDER IS CLOSED! Anyone who attempts to enter the United States unlawfully will be apprehended, processed, and removed in accordance with U.S. law,” the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations unit wrote in the Instagram caption.
Border officials arrested 18 people in total from the boat.
Illegal migrant sightings often occur near the California Channel Islands, which include Catalina Island.
Authorities made a horrifying discovery back in July after intercepting a small boat 14 miles west of San Clemente Island off the Southern California coast.
Officials with the Coast Guard and Customs and Border Protection found nearly two dozen illegal migrants packed onto the small boat, as well as an unresponsive 56-year-old man who later died.
The rest of the migrants were detained and transferred to US Border Patrol personnel, officials said.
Border Patrol officials have been more aggressive in anti-illegal immigration efforts since the start of the second Trump administration in 2025. Illegal immigration, especially at the southern border, has dropped sharply.
