The Coast Guard arrests more than 20 migrants in a boat off the coast of California

Newport Beach, California, Mayor Will O’Neill is blasting law enforcement after the Coast Guard detained 21 migrants on a boat about a mile off shore Thursday.

FOX 11 in Los Angeles reported that 18 of the detained immigrants are from Mexico, while two are from Uzbekistan and one is from Russia.

“There’s no way you’re going to try to protect Uzbeks coming in from our southern border,” O’Neill said, directing his comments to California lawmakers. “Get your act together, get this, because we have real problems that affect real people in your cities all over California. You can’t keep treating every city in California like a border city. You can’t put us in this situation. We have real problems, and we need you to fix them now.”

On Thursday night, coast guard crews arrested 21 people one kilometer off the coast of Newport Beach after seeing a suspicious incident on the boat they were on.

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“We’re always encountering boats,” Coast Guard Petty Officer Levi Read told the station. “They don’t always have that many people, though.”

O’Neill said his concern is that when people enter the US through the southern border, especially from Uzbekistan, “something is broken.”

“Every city in California is now a border city because of SB 54,” he told FOX 11. “We’re being told that local authorities are prohibited from cooperating with federal authorities in stopping people like this.”

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A sailboat sails through Newport Harbor on March 2, 2023. (Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Also known as the “California Values ​​Act,” SB 54 is sometimes referred to as the “sanctuary state law”.

The law was implemented in 2018 and effectively mandated non-cooperation between state law enforcement agencies and immigration officials.

FOX 11 reported on another incident involving illegal immigrants in Newport Harbor in May. It is reported that the video of this incident showed more than 20 suspects who are suspected to be immigrants walking over the pit before they spread to the city.

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The station has located the fishing vessel used in Thursday’s incident, which is reported to be a 34-foot fishing boat with several life jackets inside.

The 21 migrants arrested on Thursday were handed over to US Customs and Border Protection.

Fox News Digital’s Bradford Betz and Louis Casiano contributed to this report.