​Suspected Human-Smuggling Boat Halted Off Coast Of San Diego

SAN DIEGO, CA — U.S. Coast Guard and Navy crews stopped a suspected human-smuggling boat off the coast of San Diego, officials said Monday.

The 40-foot cuddy cabin-style vessel, which was carrying eight migrants, crossed into U.S. waters south of Point Loma around 7 a.m. Saturday, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard cutter Terrell Horne and Navy-guided-missile destroyer USS Spruance deployed boarding teams and intercepted the boat around 10:35 p.m. about 27 miles west of San Diego. Officials took seven men and one woman into custody.

All eight people, who claimed Mexican nationality, were turned over to the Department of Homeland Security agents in Oceanside, according to the Coast Guard.