NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – Nearly two dozen people believed to be illegal immigrants hopped off a docked boat at a California marina Thursday morning and vanished into the nearby community.
On Thursday, a video posted to social media by @OCLiberator shows at least 20 migrants jumping off a boat before hopping a fenced-off area at Balboa Peninsula in upscale Newport Beach.
California is a sanctuary state, which prevents law enforcement officers from arresting or detaining migrants who enter the country illegally, reported the New York Post.
WATCH: Approximately two dozen migrants were caught on film unloading off a boat in NEWPORT BEACH Thursday morning on the tip of the Balboa Peninsula and fleeing into the neighborhood.
Until we fix our broken immigration laws, every town in Orange County is a border town. pic.twitter.com/0ITXveFNSk
— OCLiberator (@OCLiberator) May 2, 2024
“I’m aware of a video showing a mass of people offloading from a boat in our Harbor,” Newport Beach Mayor Will O’Neill posted on X. “I’ve been in touch with the O.C. Sheriff’s Department who patrols our Harbor to find out how we can do better.”
I’m aware of a video showing a mass of people offloading from a boat in our Harbor.
I’ve been in touch with the O.C. Sheriff’s Department who patrols our Harbor to find out how we can do better. That said…
1/3
— Will O'Neill (@RealWillONeill) May 2, 2024
However, Orange County Sheriff Don Barnes noted earlier in the week, “Maritime smuggling is up, and although our Harbor Patrol works to interdict vessels trafficking drugs and people, state restrictions on communications with federal partners hinder our efforts. The state should repeal laws that restrict communication with our federal partners.”
Mayor O’Neill responded to Barnes comments by saying, “I wholeheartedly agree with O.C. Sheriff Don Barnes’s tweet from two days ago about how our law enforcement’s hands get tied behind their backs by Sacramento’s ‘sanctuary state’ policies.”
I wholeheartedly agree with O.C. Sheriff Don Barnes’s tweet from two days ago about how our law enforcement’s hands get tied behind their backs by Sacramento’s “sanctuary state” policies:https://t.co/7VSthdNiv3
— Will O'Neill (@RealWillONeill) May 2, 2024
There has been a sharp increase in maritime smuggling in California, rising from from 308 in 2020 to 736 in 2024, a 140 percent increase, according to Sheriff Barnes, citing the US Customs and Border Protection.
“Our nation’s border crisis is serious, lawless, and dangerous,” Mayor O’Neill added. “The approaches taken by the administrations in D.C. and Sacramento have made it significantly worse. As it has been said, every city is now a border city. We must expect better from people in charge of enforcing our laws.”
On April 16, Law Officer reported about another maritime smuggling situation when a speed boat raced toward the shore, nearly missing a surfer, and was beached in Carlsbad, which is about 55 miles south of Newport Beach. As the vessel ran ashore, 22 adult migrants were counted hopping off the boat, running across the beach and disappearing into the community.
A man who filmed the incursion said, “(it) looked like a military exercise.”
This reportedly happened yesterday in Carlsbad, California. A group of mostly military age males invaded our country illegally via boat and then dispersed throughout the city in cars.
Are any of them on the terror watch list? Do any of them have a criminal history?
We don’t… pic.twitter.com/MQHqpF27Gu
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) April 14, 2024
“To see it live like that, I mean even police and Border Patrol said they never caught it live like I did,” the unidentified resident declared. “So to see one coming toward the shore at 40, 45 miles an hour and not turning, it was like a movie… and the lifeguards were just sitting there, so I thought it was a planned, staged event.”
Another local resident Susan Hargis, told KUSI, “It looked like it was a planned deal.”
A source told Law Officer that he regularly surfs at beaches in San Diego County, and has seen this kind of immigrant invasion happen on multiple occasions with no one around to confront or stop them.
“They just vanish into the community. We have no idea who they are or what kind of danger they present,” he said. “The fact that our state and federal government has facilitated this behavior is alarming.”
