At least eight people died when one of two boats belonging to suspected drug traffickers sank as it approached a beach in San Diego on the California coast, and authorities estimate seven more people are missing.
A woman from one of the boats called the US emergency number (911) Saturday night to report that one of the boats had capsized in the surf off Blacks Beach, according to the US Coast Guard petty officer USA Richard Brahm, quoted by Associated Press ( AP).
“The woman who called said the capsized boat had 15 people on board, but that was just an estimate,” Brahm said.
The Coast Guard and San Diego firefighters pulled eight bodies from the water, but heavy fog made it difficult to find more victims. The Coast Guard patrolled the area today and authorities hope to have helicopter support as soon as weather permits.
Brahm also said he did not know if passengers on his boat were injured or if they were intercepted by border control.
There is no certainty about whether there was any arrest or about the nationality of the passengers.
Illegal crossings have increased under President Joe Biden, with many migrants voluntarily turning themselves in to border control agents and being released into the US, continuing to process in the country’s courts.
A rule created during the pandemic, and set to expire on May 11, denies migrants the chance to seek asylum on the basis of the need to prevent the spread of Covid-19, but enforcement has fallen disproportionately on migrants. Mexicans, Hondurans. , Guatemalans and Salvadorans, since they are the only nationalities that Mexico has agreed to recover.
As a result, people in these four countries seek to evade authorities and avoid capture, knowing that they are more likely to be removed under public health law.
Recently, Mexico has also begun to receive Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans again.
Source: TSF
