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Congressional Testimony on USCG Law Enforcement
Coast Guard Drug Interdiction History of Significant Events Coast Guard Counter-Drug FY 1997 - 2002 Summary Report
Migrant Interdiction Year in Review: FY 2000
Living Marine Resources FY 99 Summary
Other Law Enforcement - FY 2000
Additional Reports

Congressional Testimony on USCG Law Enforcement:

Drug Interdiction History of Events:
5/9/00 - USCG - Drug Smuggling Problem in the Caribbean
3/7/00 - Drug Crisis in Southern California
1/27/00- The Decline Of DOD Asset Support For Counterdrug Activities
5/13/99- Maritime Bilateral Counterdrug Agreements
3/3/99- Anti-Narcotics Efforts In The Western Hemisphere
2/24/99- U.S.-Mexican Counternarcotics Efforts
9/29/98- The Coast Guard's Drug Interdiction Strategy
9/16/98- The Western Hemisphere Drug Elimination Act
6/22/98- The flow of illegal drugs into Florida
6/10/98- Coast Guard Drug Interdiction

Living Marine Resources Enforcement:
4/14/00- The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, Boston Field Hearing
1/18/00- The Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, Anchorage Field Hearing

Other:
5/14/98- Coast Guard Policies and Procedures for the Criminal Enforcement of Environmental Laws

Coast Guard Counter-drug FY 1997 - 2002 Summary Report

Additional ONDCP funding in FY97 provided the upgraded sensors and additional resource hours necessary to introduce Operation FRONTIER SHIELD as a proof of concept for Campaign STEEL WEB. Coast Guard's campaign strategy is to sequentially apply surge operations targeting high threat drug trafficking areas in the Caribbean and the maritime approaches to the Southwest Border. The success of Operation FRONTIER SHIELD has increased drug seizure totals and reduced cocaine flows into Puerto Rico in support of the National Drug Control Strategy.

Virtually all of the cocaine destined for United States travels by sea for at least a portion of its journey. The Coast Guard is working harder than ever to stop illegal drugs from reaching U.S. shores. The Coast Guard committed more than 102,000 ship and aircraft resource hours to dedicated counter drug patrols in FY97. From FY97 to FY2002 the US Coast Guard has seized more than 686,000 pounds of cocaine and 320,000 of marijuana.

The increased patrol effort resulted in a record year for Coast Guard drug seizures. In FY02, the Coast Guard seized (or assisted in seizing) 117,780 pounds of cocaine and 40,316 pounds of marijuana products--enough drugs to fill more than 3 tractor trailer trucks. The import value of these seizures was more than $3.5 billion dollars.

In the areas where the Coast Guard concentrates its counter drug patrols, cocaine prices are up while crime and drug trafficking are down. A good example is Puerto Rico where the Coast Guard is working hard to shut the "Caribbean back door" which provides smugglers easy access to the United States. Today, thanks to Coast Guard operations like FRONTIER SHIELD, drug seizures are at record levels and, consequently, cocaine traffic into Puerto Rico is down. Equally impressive is that cocaine prices are up on the streets of San Juan and its feeder cities like New York and Boston. Drug related crime in Puerto Rico is down and unlike previous years, the Governor no longer relies on the National Guard to maintain order in the territory's housing projects.

MIGRANT INTERDICTION YEAR IN REVIEW: FY 2000 Back to Top

Migrant Interdiction:
5/18/99- USCG Migrant Interdiction Operations

On March 18, 2000, Coast Guard Cutter THETIS interdicts the fishing vessel VIVIANA II loaded with 250 Ecuadorian migrants. Scenes similar to this are repeated eight different times with Coast Guard forces encountering Ecuadorian migrants in Fiscal year 2000 (October 1999 through September 2000), an emerging trend. Undocumented maritime migration continued to be active for the U.S. Coast Guard, the lead U.S. agency for the interdiction of migrants at sea. The U.S. faced migration threats from traditional sources of Cuba, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and the People's Republic of China. In addition to regular migration flow, the rise in numbers of Ecuadorian migrants, the Elian Gonzalez case, and an increase in violent resistance also highlighted the fiscal year.

Maritime migration continued from the People's Republic of China (PRC), but interdictions were fewer. Smugglers continue to change their routes and tactics to avoid contact with Coast Guard patrols. While last fiscal year saw Guam and the Pacific Northwest as significant targets, areas on the West Coast of Central America and the U.S. Virgin Islands are now targeted. A major interdiction occurred on December 7, when Coast Guard cutter MUNRO interdicted M/V WING FUNG LUNG off the coast of Guatemala. M/V WING FUNG LUNG was a 200' freighter in a state of disrepair. Soon after sighting, the vessel started taking on water and required Coast Guard assistance. The MUNRO boarding team encountered a group of migrants who had run out of food and water that became increasingly hostile at the encouragement of the crew and enforcers. One struggle for a boarding team member's weapon led to around being fired into the deck, with no one being hurt. The migrants were taken to Guatemala and flown back to PRC. A new PRC migrant destination of increasing popularity is the U.S. Virgin Islands. PRC migrants travel by sea and air to South America, where they work their way up through the Lesser Antilles to the Virgin Islands.

Haitian migrant flow remained steady compared to last fiscal year. Migrants departed by boat primarily for the Bahamas. Once there, they can arrange for further travel to the U.S. using smugglers. Rumors of amnesty at the turn of the century brought a short surge in Haitian maritime migration, demonstrated by a boat with 395 Haitian grounding off the Florida coast on January 1, 2000. Political violence and deteriorating economy were additional motivators for migrants. Over the course of the fiscal year, several tragic accidents occurred involving Haitian migrant boats. On April 27, the Coast Guard responded to a group of nearly 300 Haitians that were stranded on an uninhabited Bahamian Cay. 65 of the migrants required urgent medical attention in the Bahamas.

Undocumented migration by Cubans received considerable attention because of the Elian Gonzalez incident. Although the Coast Guard involvement was minimal, with the medical evacuation of Elian, the deaths of the other migrants with him were a testimony to the dangers migrants face when they take to sea. Making interdiction efforts more difficult, several groups of Cuban migrants violently opposed Coast Guard boats, throwing rocks and other items and threatening teams with knives and machetes, injuring several boarding team members. In response to these incidents, the Coast Guard is examining a variety of new nonlethal tools to counter violent migrants. During the year, the overall flow of migrants dropped from FY 99. Several reasons for this can be media attention following the Elian Gonzalez case deterring departures, an increase in the number Cubans processed for legal entry into the U.S. and an increasing number travelling to Mexico and crossing the land border.

The Coast Guard's involvement in Ecuadorian migration marked the most significant development in Coast Guard migrant interdiction in FY 2000. The Coast Guard regularly patrols the Eastern Pacific coast of Central and South America for illegal narcotics trafficking. While in the region, the Coast Guard encountered Ecuadorian migrants, travelling by boat to Mexico and Central America. Many eventually travel to the U.S. While not directly enforcing any U.S. laws, the Coast Guard interdicted the vessels for humanitarian reasons. All of them had no safety equipment and are dangerously overloaded. The migrants were then escorted to the nearest safe port and vessels turned over to the Flag State.

Migrants continued maritime transits from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico. The flow of these migrants was up over FY 1999, possibly due to many government workers in the Dominican Republic Government were fired and replaced by members friendly to the incoming political party. Up to 70,000 people were displaced, encouraging departures. Smugglers facilitate almost all undocumented travel to Puerto Rico, from where they can travel without restriction to the Continental U.S.

For Coast Guard Migrant Interdictions: See Additional Statistics.

Other Law Enforcement Back to Top

In FY 2000 the Cuban-American exile community in South Florida conducted two memorial/protest "flotillas" off the coast of Cuba. One involved civilian vessels and both involved aircraft and required significant Coast Guard engagement to insure they were conducted safely outside Cuban waters. Coast Guard assets included small boats, 110' patrol boats, 270' medium endurance cutters, and 378' high endurance cutters and several types of rotary and fixed wing aircraft. The Coast Guard also assisted other agencies with maritime (off shore) security zone enforcement around the Vieques Firing Range in Puerto Rico.

Living Marine Resources FY 99 Summary Back to Top

The Coast Guard boarded more than 9,000 U.S. fishing vessels in FY99 to ensure compliance with federal fisheries regulations, Endangered Species Act requirements, and fishing vessel safety regulations. The Coast Guard detected 416 fisheries violations and over 3,000 safety violations on these boardings.

In late April and early May of 1999, Canadian and U.S. Coast Guard aircraft detected multiple vessels illegally fishing in the Northwest Pacific, violating of the UN High Seas Driftnet moratorium and the North Pacific Anadromous Fish Commission. Coast Guard Cutter RUSH responded, and, in three separate cases, was able to apprehend illegal fishermen in international waters roughly 450 miles Southwest of the Aleutian Island Attu. Two of the vessels, the LOBANA-1 and the TAYFUN-4 were Russian vessels that the RUSH handed over to Russian enforcement. The RUSH also seized the YING FA, which initially claimed Chinese registry. When the Peoples’ Republic of China refuted their registry, the Coast Guard escorted the vessel to Adak to enforce U.S. law. The vessel was sold at auction, and the crew was returned to their homes (China and Taiwan) by the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Scientific analysis of the salmon aboard the YING FA showed that a significant percentage of the fish came from North America, further justifying the use of U.S. and Canadian enforcement assets to prosecute these poachers.

1999 also brought heightened activity along the U.S.-Russia maritime boundary (MB) in the Bering Sea, where fishing occurs roughly from May to November. 92 foreign fishing vessel (FFV) incursions into the U.S. EEZ were detected - the highest number ever recorded and a ten-fold increase from 1998. Most of these cases were not prosecuted because the incursions were brief, or the vessel was able to get out of U.S. waters before a Coast Guard cutter could respond. In those few cases the Coast Guard was able to respond, they encountered a unprecedented level of hostility and tension with Russian fishing vessels. Two vessels successfully refuted the Coast Guard’s authority under international law to prosecute their incursions. Consulting with the Department of State, National Security Council, and others, the Coast Guard transferred the cases to Russian authorities rather than escalating tensions further.

While patrolling to interdict drug smugglers south of Puerto Rico, Coast Guard Cutter VALIANT detected the Venezuelan fishing vessel GAVIOTA illegally fishing with longline gear over eighteen miles inside the U.S. EEZ. The VALIANT boarded the vessel, which had over 4,500 lbs. of migratory species, mainly tuna, aboard, and escorted it to San Juan, where the National Marine Fisheries Service prosecuted the case.

Station South Padre Island personnel, in Southern Texas, have long been frustrated by Mexican fishermen fishing in the U.S. EEZ, normally using small, fast, maneuverable boats called lanchas. Compared to 1998, the station was able to interdict four times as many lanchas in 1999 using new "Guardian" small boats and operationally testing new tactics using non-lethal technologies. The station was able to interdict 12 of the 220 lanchas detected in 1999, compelling the rest to flee into Mexican waters. While, obviously, we need to decrease the number of lanchas fishing in U.S. waters, this shows a significant improvement over Fiscal Year 1998, when only three lanchas were interdicted. Further improvement and approval of non-lethal technologies, and continued cooperation with Mexican officials, should reduce the number of fishermen willing to risk fishing in U.S. waters. Back to Top

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Updated on 03/30/2004