SAN DIEGO — When the area you’re charged with monitoring is as vast as the ocean, it’s extremely difficult for Customs and Border Protection officials like Reif Smith to track every boat propelling along the Southern California coast.
“It’s really hard. You can imagine such a big wide open area, trying to pinpoint the vessels,” Smith said. “The ocean provides the opportunity to hide and not be seen.”
Smith serves as acting director of marine operations and has worked this type of federal law enforcement on both the Pacific and the Atlantic Oceans.
His love of being on the water brought him to the job. His pride in protecting the United States border keeps him on, despite the many challenges.
The marine enforcement aspect of CBP has been around since 1789 and the core of what it does is intercept boats smuggling drugs or, more and more frequently, migrants.
“This last year was a record-breaking year for human smuggling on the water here in Southern California. So it’s a problem that doesn’t seem to be ending,” Smith said.
Smith took us out with his team on what could only be described from the shore as a perfect clear day on the water. He said the boats launch from various spots in Mexico.
Some runs are sprints through near-shore waters. But others go much further out to avoid detection. And 20, 30 or 50 miles off shore, the journey becomes extremely rough even on a good day as waves pound the vessels.
“The conditions alone on these boats they’re not safe. The sea conditions can take the boat and flip them in a matter of minutes,” Smith said.
Some boats hover near the Coronado Islands, which are in the Mexico waters, to load fuel or wait it out until night. Some venture even further out to sea before swinging north to cross what’s known as the maritime boundary line.
Sometimes smugglers use a decoy boat to distract authorities before the smuggling vessel takes off.
Often under the cover of darkness they’ll try to enter the U.S. and try to avoid detection by an enforcement air or water crew.
Smith said the migrants are paying smugglers about $8,000-$10,000 or even more per person. A 25-foot fishing boat called a panga could be loaded with 15-30 people inside to make the voyage.
“Which is very overloaded. They’ll be out on the water for hours. So they’re crowded in a boat that’s rocking in the sea conditions,” Smith said. “You have people that are sea sick, the bottoms of the boats are usually filled with about a foot and a half of water, mixed with vomit, fuel, open fuel containers. It’s just unsafe, miserable conditions on these boats.”
One of the most dangerous situations happens when a smuggler learns they have been spotted and reacts in alarm by trying to speed off, sparking a high speed pursuit.
Smith said authorities employ chase maneuvers like “crossing the wake” to try to intercept the boat safely, often triangulating resources from the sky and on the water.
Since smuggling can result in serious prison sentences, Smith said the smugglers are often willing to do whatever it takes to escape authorities, often engaging in dangerous evasion maneuvers that can put passengers in grave dangers.
Some pursuits suddenly turn into rescue operations.
“Our agents one minute are law enforcement and the next minute they’re in a life-saving operation. People drown, the engines breaking down, the vessels flipping in the high seas. There’s a lot of risk when you factor in the ocean,” Smith said, adding that many of the migrants they encounter when they stop a boat are suffering from hypothermia.
The critical message Smith hopes sinks in, is the danger of migrating by ocean and the lives put at risk.
Even when there are no pursuits, the journeys can end in disaster. In May, a vessel believed to be carrying migrants crashed into a reef off the coast of San Diego resulting in three deaths and two dozen people sent to the hospital.
“When you see people that have died you think about that they have families too and the situations they’re in,” Smith said. “Some of us take that pretty hard.”
Smith said the increased numbers of smuggling boats this past year is concerning and his unit works tirelessly to try to catch the people taking advantage of the migrants. He added that the migrants often times don’t realize the risks associated with this type of crossing.
“We are trying to come out and do our best to stop it and dismantle the criminal organizations that are benefiting from these people’s misery,” Smith said. “No one should be sacrificing their lives in this way.”