US Coast Guard Surges Near Haiti, Cuba, and Florida to Block Mass Migration

A Coast Guard Cutter in San Diego on May 2, 2021. Sandy Huffaker/Getty Images

The U.S. Coast Guard is sending more resources to deal with “mass migration” into the United States through its maritime border, according to an announcement Tuesday from the maritime law enforcement agency’s commandant.

“Per the President’s Executive Orders, I have directed my operational commanders to immediately surge assets—cutters, aircraft, boats and deployable specialized forces—to increase Coast Guard presence and focus,” acting Coast Guard commandant Adm. Kevin Lunday said in a statement.

Coast Guard vessels and resources will be sent to multiple regions, not limited to the lower 48 states, the Coast Guard said. Support will also be sent to U.S. Customs and Border Protection along maritime portions of the southwestern U.S. border, where illegal immigrant-related crossings are the highest.

The areas that will see more assets include the “southeast U.S. border approaching Florida to deter and prevent a maritime mass migration from Haiti and/or Cuba” as well as the maritime borders around Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands.

Assets will be deployed to the maritime border area between southern Florida and the Bahamas, the maritime border between the United States and Mexico along the Pacific Ocean, and the “maritime border between Texas and Mexico in the Gulf of America,” the Coast Guard said in a statement, referring to the body of water also known as the Gulf of Mexico.

The directive was issued as the Trump administration moves to target illegal immigration and bolster security around U.S. borders. Hours after taking office Monday, President Donald Trump signed several executive orders to declare a national emergency and an invasion at the U.S.–Mexico border, among other actions.

The Coast Guard, which, unlike other branches of the military, is overseen by Homeland Security, not the Department of Defense. It includes high-seas rescues, intercepting drug traffickers, and sometimes intercepting illegal immigrants.

“Together, in coordination with our Department of Homeland Security and Department of Defense teammates, we will detect, deter and interdict illegal migration, drug smuggling and other terrorist or hostile activity before it reaches our border,” the Coast Guard statement said.

On Tuesday, the Coast Guard said that a crew recently intercepted a “panga-style” vessel near Oceanside, California, which had been carrying 26 illegal immigrants from China, Vietnam, and Mexico, among other countries. Those individuals were taken into custody by U.S. Border Patrol, it said.

Days before that, the Coast Guard said it interdicted a panga-style boat carrying 15 illegal immigrants near Point Loma, California. Nationals from China, Uzbekistan, Mexico, Ecuador, Vietnam, and El Salvador were discovered on the boat, with one individual showing signs of “hypothermia-like symptoms.”

The decision to send more Coast Guard resources comes as acting Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman announced he relieved former Coast Guard commandant Adm. Linda Fagan from her duties.

Fagan was named to the position in 2022 under the Biden administration, in an announcement that noted she was the first female commandant of the Coast Guard.

In the interim, Lunday will serve as the acting commandant of the Coast Guard “and assumes all the authority and responsibilities of the office,” Huffman wrote in a memo. Trump also nominated Lunday to serve as the Coast Guard’s director, which requires Senate confirmation.

Trump also named South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to lead Homeland Security. Last week, Noem’s nomination was approved by the Senate Homeland Security Committee, meaning she will face a full Senate confirmation vote soon.