California city partners with US border patrol to surveil beach for migrant boats

Leaders of the southern California city of San Clemente, located about halfway between Los Angeles and San Diego, are partnering with US Customs and Border Protection to place surveillance cameras along the city’s beach to detect boats carrying passengers attempting to enter the country without authorization.

At a Tuesday gathering of the town’s city council, members ordered city manager Andy Hall to begin coordinating with Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Mayor Steven Knoblock – a Republican who was elected in November on a public safety platform – told the Los Angeles Times the cameras are intended to spot fishing boats, called pangas, attempting to dock on San Clemente’s shores and to lower crime rates.

“People have observed pangas crammed with illegal aliens, hitting our beach, and then scattering in the community or jumping into a van, which is parked nearby and ready to receive them,” Knoblock told the LA Times.

He added: “San Clemente has had significant crime issues with the sophisticated Chilean burglary rings hitting our neighborhoods on a very systematic basis and continues to be a problem.”

The state of California has prohibited law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration authorities since 2017, when the state passed its “sanctuary state” law in an effort to prevent mass deportations during the first Trump administration. After Donald Trump’s victory in the November 2024 election, Democratic California governor Gavin Newsom gathered lawmakers for a special legislative session to “Trump-proof” the state. But since wildfires devastated much of southern California, the state is now seeking federal aid to rebuild.

Before San Clemente city council members voted to collaborate with CBP on the camera initiative, the city had been considering joining a lawsuit against the state’s sanctuary law.

San Clemente will not technically be violating the sanctuary state law by coordinating with CBP. The law specifically prevents law enforcement from cooperating with CBP, but San Clemente does not have its own police force. Instead, the city will work directly with border patrol.

Knoblock has proposed installing cameras that operate 24/7 and cover about 7 miles of territory.

“I’m recommending the cameras being aimed oceanward with a rotating telescopic lens and thermal imaging for night viewing,” Knoblock told the LA Times. “This additional visibility will hopefully provide interdiction prior to [migrants] hitting our beaches.”

City officials are also considering ways to open access to the footage to the public.

This is not Knoblock’s first time challenging California sanctuary laws. As a city council member in 2022 he sponsored a measure calling for California to become a “sanctuary city for life” – in contrast with California’s laws permitting abortion.

Nor is it the first time a California city has challenged the state’s sanctuary law for immigrants. In December, the San Diego county sheriff said she would cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement despite state laws prohibiting such activity.