Puerto Rico. (June 1, 2023): In this photo by Ricardo Castrodad, Coast Guard Cutter Donald Horsley’s small boat crew interdicts a vessel in the Mona Passage, an 80-mile-long stretch of dangerous seas between Puerto Rico and Hispaniola (Dominican Republic). The Coast Guard returned 24 of 29 migrants from this case to the Dominican Republic while four others are facing federal prosecution at the U.S. District Court in Puerto Rico. Coast Guard crews also medevac’d a pregnant woman, who was experiencing contractions, to a local hospital in Puerto Rico.

The Coast Guard is the primary agency responsible for enforcing U.S. immigration laws at sea and securing the maritime border. U.S. immigration law authorizes the Coast Guard to make inquiries, examinations, inspections, searches, seizures, and arrests upon the high seas and to engage in maritime surveillance and interdiction. In 1981, President Ronald Reagan signed an executive Order authorizing the interdiction of Illegal Aliens and the law was revalidated by President George H. W. Bush in 1992. No other U.S. agency is more involved in maritime migration interdiction operations than the Coast Guard.

Illegal maritime migration comes mostly from Cuba and Haiti over long expanses of ocean that are considered some of the most hazardous in the world. Typically, migrant craft are home-made makeshift rafts with no navigation or lifesaving equipment on board. These crude vessels are typically severely overloaded with people—it is common for Coast Guard crews to contend with a 50-foot sail freighter with more than 200 migrants crammed on board. These ships are incapable of withstanding heavy seas and often sink even in calm waters causing extreme loss of life. The almost suicidal desire to escape ghastly conditions in their homeland drives many Haitian and Cuban migrant populations to attempt these dangerous crossings.

For Coast Guard personnel, these interdictions can be heartbreaking and seem more like a humanitarian rescue rather than a law enforcement mission. Nevertheless, America is a nation of laws and, despite their desperation, potential migrants to this country must follow the law and apply for entry into the U.S. through legal means.