By Naveen Athrappully

Six suspected human smuggling boats were taken into custody by authorities during the weekend, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said in a Feb. 27 post on X.

“Since our southern border is more secure than ever before, cartels are being forced to try to smuggle through our nation’s maritime waters. This past weekend, DHS law enforcement interdicted six suspected maritime smuggling vessels and apprehended 82 migrants off the coast of California,” the department said.

“Our work to keep our nation safe never ends. We stand ready to protect our Homeland from smugglers on land, air, and sea.”

Multiple other illegal immigrants trying to cross maritime waters have been apprehended by authorities over the past weeks.

On March 1, the Coast Guard announced that it interdicted 14 suspected illegal immigrants in a vessel roughly 10 miles southwest of Point Loma, San Diego.

On Feb. 24, the Coast Guard said it intercepted 20 illegal immigrants near Sunset Cliffs in California. The same day, the Coast Guard announced that it worked with DHS partner agencies and the U.S. Navy to interdict five suspected maritime smuggling vessels, nabbing 62 illegal immigrants in the process.

President Donald Trump achieved the “most secure American border EVER” during the first year of his second term, according to a Feb. 24 statement by DHS.

There were 90,084 Border Patrol apprehensions along the southwest border in the first year, which is lower than a single-month average of 155,485 apprehensions under the previous administration, the department said.

“Over the last 13 months, nearly 3 million illegal aliens have left the U.S. because of the Trump Administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration, including an estimated 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 713,000 deportations,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said.

“Meanwhile, we have saved taxpayers more than $13.2 billion here at DHS. Countless lives have been saved, communities have been strengthened, and the American people have been put first again.”

Drug Smuggling, Strikes

In addition to its target of human smuggling, the Trump administration is also cracking down on drug smuggling into the United States.

The Coast Guard intercepted a suspected drug smuggling vessel, seizing roughly 17 pounds of marijuana and 174 pounds of cocaine, valued at around $1.3 million, according to a Feb. 27 announcement.

Two suspected smugglers were taken into custody to be further investigated by Homeland Security Investigations, the Coast Guard said.

The U.S. Southern Command said on Feb. 23 that it had struck a drug boat in the Caribbean Sea, killing at least three individuals alleged to be narco-terrorists. The U.S. military had launched such strikes targeting drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean since September 2025.

These efforts have faced criticism. In September, Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced a measure to stop such strikes, arguing that the actions were not authorized by Congress.

“Congress alone holds the power to declare war,” Schiff said while announcing the resolution.

“And while we share with the executive branch the imperative of preventing and deterring drugs from reaching our shores, blowing up boats without any legal justification risks dragging the United States into another war and provoking unjustified hostilities against our own citizens.”

Trump has said that the United States was in an “armed conflict” with South American cartels and justified the attacks as necessary actions to counter the flow of drugs in the United States.

A White House report from last year said: “Although friendly foreign nations have made significant efforts to combat these organizations, suffering significant losses of life, these groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels.

“Therefore, the President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States.”