联邦执法部门在新港滩外海拦截涉嫌偷渡船，船上14人被带回调查
新港滩消息——美国司法部公布，海关与边境保护局空中与海上行动部门联合边境巡逻队，于10月3日清晨在橙县新港滩海港（Newport Beach Harbor）外海拦截一艘涉嫌海上偷渡的船只，船上载有14名墨西哥公民。据司法部发布的起诉文件，执法人员在例行海上巡逻中发现该船行迹可疑，遂将其拦停并把船上人员带回调查。
检方指控，被告卡斯特罗-杜埃尼亚斯（Castro-Duenas）涉嫌企图以船只偷运外国公民入境。起诉书同时披露，他曾于2008年被递解出境，并有2007年因走私相关罪行被定罪、服刑约13个月的记录。案件由联邦检察官王罗莎琳德（Rosalind Wang）负责，依法该项指控的法定最高刑期为12年。
司法部强调，起诉书中的内容仅为指控，被告在法庭证明有罪之前依法享有无罪推定。南加州海岸一直是海上偷渡的高发区域，联邦机构提醒公众，海上偷渡极其危险，船只超载与夜间航行已多次造成致命事故。
联邦执法机构介绍，南加州外海的海上偷渡活动近年来有增无减，走私者常用小型渔船在夜间或清晨靠岸，把乘客送到偏僻海滩后迅速离境；这类航行没有救生设备、严重超载，已多次发生倾覆与溺亡事故。被拦截带回的人员通常先接受健康检查与身份核查，后续依移民与刑事程序处理；船只驾驶者与组织者则面临刑事指控。海岸警卫队与海关部门呼吁，海上目击可疑船只的居民与船员可通过海上紧急频道或当地执法机构报告。检方表示，本案的下一次法庭程序将排期公布，被告的保释与羁押状态由联邦地方法官在提审时裁定。
图片来源：新港滩海港日落，Wikimedia Commons，CC BY-SA 4.0，Don Ramey Logan
Federal Officers Interdict Suspected Smuggling Boat Off Newport Beach; 14 Taken Into Custody
NEWPORT BEACH — The U.S. Department of Justice announced that U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations, working with the Border Patrol, interdicted a suspected smuggling boat off Newport Beach Harbor on the morning of October 3, finding 14 Mexican nationals aboard. According to the Justice Department, officers on maritime patrol stopped the vessel after observing suspicious activity and took those aboard into custody for investigation.
Prosecutors charged a defendant identified as Castro-Duenas with attempted alien smuggling. The complaint states he was previously deported in 2008 and has a 2007 smuggling-related conviction for which he served about 13 months. The case is being handled by Assistant U.S. Attorney Rosalind Wang; the charge carries a statutory maximum of 12 years.
The Justice Department stressed that a complaint contains allegations only and that the defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty in court. Federal agencies warn that maritime smuggling along the Southern California coast remains common and extremely dangerous, with overloaded boats and nighttime crossings repeatedly turning deadly.
Federal agencies say maritime smuggling off Southern California has grown in recent years, with smugglers typically using small fishing boats that land passengers on remote beaches at night or before dawn and then speed off; the boats are overloaded and carry no safety gear, and capsizings and drownings have occurred repeatedly. People brought ashore are normally given medical screening and identity checks, then processed under immigration and criminal procedures, while boat operators and organizers face criminal charges. The Coast Guard and customs officials ask boaters and residents who spot suspicious vessels to report them on marine emergency channels or to local law enforcement. Prosecutors said the defendant's next court date will be posted when scheduled, with custody and bail to be decided by a federal magistrate judge at arraignment.
Photo: Newport Harbor at sunset, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, Don Ramey Logan
图片来源：图：停泊在新港滩海岸警卫站的美国海岸警卫队「独角鲸」号巡逻艇。摄影：Chris English，CC BY-SA 3.0，来源：Wikimedia Commons
