Migrants risk their lives to seek protection and opportunities in the U.S., often when the asylum system is inaccessible to them. Many migrants who attempt to cross into the country by sea are rescued or recovered from the beaches and coastal areas that San Diegans call home.
A San Diego federal judge admonished the men for the lives they risked, but also acknowledged their humanity for trying to save the migrant who drowned
The boat's captain, Victor Alfonso Soto Aguilar, 37, was sentenced to nearly six years in prison, while another man who acted as a refueler Jose Ramon Geraldo Romero, 24 received five years.
Two men who pleaded guilty to charges stemming from a fatal human smuggling attempt in a boat that stalled off the coast of La Jolla were sentenced Monday to.