Coast Guard cutter intercepts boat with 16 Mexicans off coast of California [Video]

The Coast Guard intercepted a boat with 16 illegal aliens on board about 15 miles off the coast of Mission Bay in California on Sunday morning.

The Coast Guard said in a press release that at about 12 a.m., cutter Active notified Joint Harbor Operations Center of a 25-foot panga-style vessel with about 15-20 people on board, about a mile south of their position.

A panga boat is a narrow, high-bowed type of vessel often used by drug and human smugglers. The cutter Active and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations boat crew launched boarding teams to assess the situation.

During the investigation, the Coast Guard boarding team discovered 16 immigrants aboard the panga.

COAST GUARD INTERCEPTS BOAT CARRYING ILLEGAL MIGRANTS AS EXPULSION FLIGHT OPERATIONS BEGIN

The initial interviews with the immigrants found they all claimed to be from Mexico, the Coast Guard said.

All the immigrants were transferred into U.S. Border …