The number of illegal migrants captured by the Coast Guard off the southern coast of California increased by nearly 500 percent in 2018.
The Washington Post saw the data and reported 1,022 migrants were captured at sea during the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, 2018. The previous year saw 213 captured, while the 2016 data showed 142 were caught.
Nationally, 1,668 were captured at sea by the Coast Guard during fiscal year 2018, a drop from 1,668 in 2017. Most of the migrants captured off the West Coast were from Central and South America. Haitians and people from other Caribbean islands were captured off the East Coast.
Other nationalities in the data included migrants from China, Sri Lanka, India, and Jordan, the Post reported.
It used to be the majority of migrants captured by the Coast Guard would be taken into custody off the Florida coast because of the policy that allowed Cubans who reached the U.S. to stay. Former President Barack Obama ended that practice at the start of 2017.
More than 200,000 kilograms of cocaine were also seized by the Coast Guard in 2018, just short of the record of 223,843 kilograms in 2017. According to the Post report, most of the drugs were discovered by Coast Guard cutters operating in the eastern Pacific Ocean.
The Coast Guard is one of several federal agencies unable to pay its employees during the ongoing government shutdown. The service was able to find the funds to make payroll in late December, but it did not have the money to mail the most recent paychecks.
The shutdown began Dec. 22 when lawmakers could not agree on funding a border wall between the United States and Mexico. Democrats now control the House and are digging in their heels, saying they will not allocate any money for the wall.
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