Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials have arrested two suspected smugglers in connection with a boat found off the coast of San Diego Wednesday. Federal agents rescued 15 people on the boat who were trying to enter the U.S. illegally. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has the story.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Lauren Mack says the boat had been adrift for about a day and a half.
She says people aboard say they launched late Monday night from Mexico. Twenty minutes later, the boat broke down.
They drifted without food or water until a cruise ship spotted them early Wednesday morning.
Mack says the two people agents arrested were aboard the boat. She says her agency has an ongoing investigation into 20 smuggling boats that have come ashore or been caught off San Diego in the last 8 months.
Mack: And our goal is to dismantle the larger ring leaders involved in this, you know, the criminal organization.
Mack didn't know where the boat launched in Mexico, nor where it was headed in San Diego.
Half a dozen smuggling boats have been abandoned on the beach in Del Mar since last November. Two have been found in La Jolla.
Amy Isackson, KPBS News.
