Three Mexican boat captains pleaded guilty to federal charges Tuesday in connection with two separate incidents last year in which small vessels carrying undocumented immigrants capsized off the coast of San Diego County, leaving a total of nine people dead, including a 14-year-old Indian boy and his 10-year-old sister.<\/p>\n
The incident involving the siblings occurred the morning of May 5 near Del Mar<\/a> and resulted in the deaths of four migrants; the second, unrelated incident occurred the night of Nov. 14 off the coast of Imperial Beach<\/a> and resulted in the deaths of four migrants and one man prosecutors believe to be the co-captain of the vessel that overturned.<\/p>\n Jesus Ivan Rodriguez Leyva, 27, and Julio Cesar Zuniga Luna, 31, pleaded guilty Tuesday in San Diego federal court to charges related to the May 5 incident. Prosecutors said Rodriguez was acting as the boat\u2019s captain, while Zuniga was a co-captain who also fueled the vessel. They pleaded guilty to charges of bringing in aliens resulting in death and bringing in aliens for financial gain.<\/p>\n On the day the two men were charged last year, then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem called on the Department of Justice to seek the death penalty against them.<\/p>\n Prosecutors never took that extraordinary step, which would have been unprecedented \u2014 and would have been met with fierce resistance by the defendants\u2019 attorneys \u2014 given that other boat captains convicted in similar incidents involving multiple migrant deaths have been sentenced in San Diego federal court to less than five years in prison<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cThis case is a tragedy made worse by former Secretary Kristi Noem\u2019s unprofessional and unwarranted comments,\u201d Knut Johnson, one of the private attorneys assigned by the court to represent Zuniga, told the Union-Tribune. \u201cWithout her interference, this case would have concluded months ago, bringing more timely closure to the victims\u2019 families.\u201d<\/p>\n According to documents in the Del Mar capsizing case, the panga piloted by Rodriguez and Zuniga left Mexico on May 4 with 19 total people on board. A problem with the engine initially forced the group to return to Mexico shortly after departure, and engine problems continued to plague the vessel as it traveled overnight across the international border, prosecutors said.<\/p>\n The engine finally failed completely early the next morning while the boat was about 200 yards off the coast of Del Mar, resulting in the vessel rotating in the water and being overturned by a wave, Assistant U.S. Attorney Sean Van Demark said. By that time, Rodriguez and Zuniga had instructed the boat\u2019s occupants to remove their life jackets so they could move quickly when they arrived on shore.<\/p>\n