Mexican Sea Alien Smuggler Sentenced to 12 ½ Years in Prison

Carlos Gomez-Garcia, a Mexican smuggler who was caught bringing in 23 sea aliens on a Del Mar beach last summer was sentenced Friday to 12 ½ years in a U.S. federal prison.  One of the illegal aliens he smuggled into the U.S. was a convicted felon according to the U.S. Attorney’s office in San Diego.

Gomez-Garcia was the head of a large smuggling organization based in Southern California.  He admitted in a plea deal to smuggling over 100 aliens total from Mexico to California.  He was also fined $180,000.  

Eight other members of Gomez-Garcia’s smuggling ring have also pleaded guilty to smuggling, including Garcia’s girlfriend who was sentenced to 18 months in prison in March.

As the land border in California has tightened dramatically in the past five years, Mexican smugglers have taken to the Pacific Ocean and California coast to transport their extremely lucrative human and drug cargo into California, landing their panga boats at any beach they can from San Diego north to Orange County and even Los Angeles.

Most of the smuggling boats come out of harbors in Ensenada and Rosarito, Mexico.

According to the Border Patrol, nearly 300 Mexican smuggling boats have violated U.S. territorial waters and/or beaches since 2008.  In response, the Border Patrol, DHS, and DOD have teamed up to greatly increase surveillance and defenses along the coast, especially in San Diego County and South Orange County, where the majority of sea smuggling landings have been attempted.

Especially troubling are the numerous foreign criminal landings on the  beaches of Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base and the beaches next to San Onofre Nuclear Plant, just north of the base. 

Border Patrol sources admit they only catch about half of the sea smuggling attempts in San Diego County.

    JeffSchwilk@cox.net

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Beaches In Southern California - News


California Fireworks Regulations Just in Time for July 4

Contributor Network – Thu, Jun 30, 2011 On the one side of the southern California street there is a huge fireworks stand with plenty of products for sale. On the other side of the street, these same fireworks are illegal.



Number of beach closures due to pollution rose last year, report says
Number of beach closures due to pollution rose last year, report says

Mary Rodriguez builds sand castles on Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro. Cabrillo was one of three Southern California beaches among the Top 10 “Repeat Offender” beaches with chronic pollution problems, a new study says. (Arkasha Stevenson / Los Angeles



Mexican Sea Alien Smuggler Sentenced to 12 ½ Years in Prison

Gomez-Garcia was the head of a large smuggling organization based in Southern California. He admitted in a plea deal to smuggling over 100 aliens total from Mexico to California. He was also fined $180000. Eight other members of Gomez-Garcia's



Ads could actually tidy up Mission Beach

“Brands that would benefit from a sponsorship would be brands that also share a young, Southern California beach attitude.” But there is another factor that makes Mission Beach the perfect spot for a commercial takeover: It's part way there already.



Where are the world's most shark-infested beaches?

The most famous beach that attracts sharks, says Burgess, is tourist hot spot New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County, also home to Daytona Beach. Hawaii, the southern and eastern coasts of Australia, and South Africa follow closely behind.




TRAVEL: Southern California – O.C. Beaches « The Dionasaurus Blog

, 2011. With a flight into Long Beach, followed by a one night hotel stay, Jessie and I were to drive south to Laguna Beach for a nine day getaway with some family friends.  As Laguna Beach is located on the Pacific Coast Highway (otherwise known as California State Highway 1), which connects some of the most iconic beaches of the West Coast, this trip seemed to be the perfect opportunity to explore the beaches of Orange County.

Before we reached the beaches of the OC, we had to survive the city of Long Beach. We had flown into Long Beach Airport because it was less busy than LAX and closer to our destination, and after a five hour flight from the other side of the county, we landed in the evening and had to find somewhere to stay for the night.  We checked in at a Best Western hotel and locked ourselves in.

As the birthplace of rapper Calvin Cordozar Broadus, Jr., also known as Snoop Dogg, I thought Long Beach might be unsafe to walk to get dinner, so we ordered some quasi-Italian food to our room. Around fifteen minutes later, there’s a knock at our door, and I open it to find a stocky Hispanic man with baggy jeans and tattoos, holding our dinner. He wasn’t exactly aiming his pistol at me sideways (actually, he wasn’t holding a pistol at all), but he was easily the closest thing I’d come to a real American street thug in my life. After quickly counting through the cash I had, fearing I didn’t have enough tip money, I asked him to wait as I rushed back to find a handful of quarters. I then dropped the money into his open palm, and he spared my life and handed over our meals. Not knowing if I had tipped too much or too little, the delivery gangster suddenly raised his hand up in a fist and held it out in front of me. As time slowed to a stand-still, I almost automatically raised my own fist and bumped it against his. He then said thanks and walked away. I must have tipped him well, because it seemed that with this thug-like hand gesture, I had been initiated into his gang, perhaps in the role of ‘The Money Man’. Maybe they would even call me D-Tip, on account of my name being Dion and my tips being generous.

Morning came, and without any time to get used to my new gangster lifestyle, we were on the road and heading down to Laguna Beach. Ironically, despite us leaving to explore various Pacific beaches, we didn’t even visit the beach of Long Beach.

Around forty minutes after leaving Long Beach, we pull into our little beach house residence in Laguna Beach and officially start our vacation. The city of Laguna Beach is a coastal town with its one main road being a portion of the Pacific Coast Highway, which is more of a main road with traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. On one side of the road, you have the beach and the Pacific Ocean, and on the other, you have a few side streets that offer various stores, cafes, and restaurants.


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Beaches In Southern California - Bookshelf

Exploring Southern California Beaches

Exploring Southern California Beaches

From the bustle of the Mexican border to the isolated beauty of Point Conception, sit back and enjoy the ride as veteran writer and beach bum David Crowell ...

Beaches and parks in Southern California, counties included, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego

Beaches and parks in Southern California, counties included, Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego


Fodor's Southern California

Fodor's Southern California

Carlsbad State Beach. Krosion from winter storms has made the southern Carlsbad beaches rockier than most beaches in southern California. ...

Fodor's 2007 Southern California, With Central Coast, Yosemite, Los Angeles, and San Diego

Fodor's 2007 Southern California, With Central Coast, Yosemite, Los Angeles, and San Diego

Erosion from winter storms has made the southern Carlsbad beaches rockier than most beaches in Southern California. This is particularly true of South t ...

Intertidal macrobiology of selected sandy beaches in Southern California

Intertidal macrobiology of selected sandy beaches in Southern California

The extensive sandy beaches of southern California have been neglected except for a study of San Diego beaches (Clark, 1969 unpublished) and several ...

Detect Guide Directory


Southern California Beaches - Guide to Beaches in Southern ...
Southern California Beach offer fantastic fun all year long. Surfboards, sand, sunshine and swimming are the ingredients for a wonderful vacation ...

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST BEST BEACHES
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA COAST BEST BEACHES. Many people go on San Diego vacations because the city boasts of some of the best beaches in the country. ...

Southern California Beaches Vacation Guide
Features information on popular beaches, including local attractions, hotels, resorts, campgrounds, vacation rentals, and real estate.

Southern California, CA Beaches - Best Beaches in Southern ...
Discover the best beaches in Southern California. Read reviews and descriptions for white sand beaches, sunny river spots or rocky lake beaches. ...

California Beach List - Beaches List with Photos of ...
Beaches are dynamic landforms altered by wind and waves in a continual process of ... In Southern California, beaches often consist of long ribbons of sand interrupted by ...