The U.S. Coast Guard is searching a stretch of open Pacific roughly 140 miles west of Ensenada, Mexico, after a human smuggling attempt left 27 people reported in the water. Sixteen people have been rescued and taken to local hospitals, while officials say more bodies may still be found.
According to NBC 7 San Diego, the Coast Guard deployed air and surface crews to the scene, and San Diego city spokesperson José Ysea confirmed the boat was involved in human smuggling. Ysea said more bodies may be in the water, even as the search continues. The Coast Guard Southwest reported 15 people rescued as of Friday, a figure that differs slightly from the 16 cited elsewhere in the same report, and said search and rescue operations remained ongoing. The exact cause of the incident is still unclear.
Ambulances and first responders staged at the Coast Guard station on the Embarcadero in San Diego as the rescue effort unfolded, the station's report notes.
A Pattern of Deadly Pacific Crossings
This incident is the latest in a string of maritime smuggling emergencies that have played out off the Southern California and Baja coastlines in recent months. In September, a federal judge in San Diego sentenced a panga boat pilot to 57 months in prison after his vessel capsized in dense fog off Imperial Beach, drowning four migrants when he ignored engine trouble and passenger pleas before the craft flipped in heavy surf, as Hoodline previously reported.
That same month, Coast Guard watchstanders at the Joint Harbor Operations Center detected a suspicious 21-foot vessel six miles off Point Loma and dispatched a boarding team that detained eight suspected undocumented migrants, who were brought to Ballast Point and transferred to Border Patrol for processing, according to edhat. Two days earlier, a suspected smuggling boat ran aground near Terramar Point by South Carlsbad State Beach. Witnesses saw several people flee into a nearby vehicle, while six to eight people were estimated to have been aboard. A Coast Guard shoreside enforcement team later located the abandoned Bayliner-style boat containing six life jackets, and the Coast Guard was to remove it, Hoodline reported in its Carlsbad beach landing coverage.
Maritime Smuggling Along Southern California
Land border apprehensions in Border Patrol's San Diego Sector dropped 93% in early Fiscal Year 2026 compared to the prior year, but maritime smuggling attempts off the coastline have persisted as migrants seek alternative routes, Hoodline has reported.
U.S. Coast Guard Executive Officer Dan Wishnoff said, “We are only getting about 30% of what we know is out there,” according to CBS 8. In April, CBP Air and Marine Operations and Coast Guard crews made three interceptions off Southern California, apprehending 60 individuals, per CBP Air and Marine Operations.
Regional Coordination
At the Port of San Diego, Harbor Police dispatchers work closely with personnel from the Coast Guard, Navy, California National Guard, and CBP to facilitate information sharing and timely response, according to the Port of San Diego. Federal interdiction operations across the broader region operate under a coordinating mechanism integrating the Coast Guard, CBP Air and Marine Operations, Border Patrol and Homeland Security Investigations, covering waters from the U.S.-Mexico maritime border through Los Angeles and Ventura counties, per ICE.
For now, the central facts remain unresolved: the precise cause of the emergency, the final number of people still unaccounted for among the 27 reported in the water, and whether additional survivors or victims will be found as Coast Guard air and surface crews continue combing the search area off Ensenada.
