5.5 US Coast Guard

WHO? The United States Coast Guard.

WHAT? Keeps watch over 95,000 miles of shoreline and 361 commercial ports.

WHEN? The Coast Guard has been protecting the nation’s maritime approaches since 1790.

WHERE? It maintains watch over 25,000 miles of inland waterways and 200 miles out to sea.

WHY? The Coast Guard helps keep illegal migrants and criminal contraband from entering the US.

The US Coast Guard is a very versatile force. Among its many missions, it protects the maritime approaches to the US from illegal immigrants and smuggling. The 42,000 men and women of the US Coast Guard maintain watch over 95,000 miles of shoreline and 361 commercial ports. Coast Guard forces are spread thin because they also keep watch over 4.5 million square miles of Exclusive Economic Zones at sea, and 25,000 miles of inland waterways. You will find them everywhere. The Coast Guard is operationally organized into nine districts encompassing the entire US. Each district is organized into operational sectors. Each sector is overseen by a Sector Command. So for example, District 17 encompassing the State of Alaska has two operational sectors, Sector Anchorage and Sector Juneau. Each Sector Command has three elements, Command and Control, Prevention, and Response. The Command and Control element directs sector operations. Pretty straight forward. The Prevention element conducts marine inspections, waterways management, and marine investigations. They inspect vessels and ports, maintain navigation aids, and investigate accidents. The Response element conducts incident management and enforcement activities. These include Search and Rescue, pollution investigations, security patrols, and boarding vessels. The Sector Commander wears a lot of hats:

• As Captain of the Port, they have authority over sector maritime commerce and waterways;

• They are the Federal Maritime Security Coordinator responsible for maritime security;

• They are the Officer in Charge of Marine Inspection with authority to board and inspect vessels;

• They are the Search and Rescue Mission Coordinator in charge of search and rescue missions;

• And they are the Federal On-Scene Coordinator with authority over oil spills and other incidents.

To fulfill all these tasks, the Sector Commander can call upon assigned units. These may include boat and air stations, navigation teams, safety units, and various cutters, aircraft, tenders, and tugs. Coast Guard cutters and aircraft comprise the maritime patrol forces responsible for conducting maritime surveillance and interdicting vessels suspected of carrying illegal immigrants or contraband. “Cutter” historically refers to a ship designed for speed, but is generally applied by the Coast Guard to any patrol ship 65 feet or greater in length. Altogether, the Coast Guard has 243 cutters. The average size Coast Guard cutter is 220 feet in length. The largest is the 418-foot Legend Class of which there are 8. These are designed for long-endurance extended sea patrols. The smallest is the Point Class of which there are 44. These are designed for patrol and interdiction closer to shore. The Coast Guard also has 201 fixed and rotary-wing aircraft. The fixed-wing HC-130 Hercules, HC-27J Spartan, and HC-144A Ocean Sentry are used for long-range patrol. The 144 helicopters, including the MH-60T Jayhawk and MH-65 Dolphin are used for short-range patrol and rescue. The Coast Guard is undergoing a major upgrade to its fleet, procuring 8 National Security Cutters, 25 Offshore Patrol Cutters, and 58 Fast Response Cutters as replacements for 90 aging high-endurance and medium-endurance cutters and patrol craft. These ships are necessary for interdicting illegal immigrants as far from US borders as possible. This official policy is designed to facilitate quick return of migrants, and to protect them from perils at sea. A major exception to this policy were migrants from Cuba. Large-scale migration from Cuba began after the Cuban Revolution in 1959. For decades Cubans who made it to the US were allowed to stay. Called the “wet foot, dry foot” policy, this practice was ended in January 2017 as part of the process to normalize relations with Cuba begun by the Obama Administration in December 2014. The “Cuban Thaw”, as it was called, had the unintended consequence of increasing migrations as Cubans anticipated the end of the “wet foot, dry foot” policy. From 2013 to 2016, the Coast Guard saw maritime interdictions from Cuba increase fourfold. The trend appears to have subsided. In 2017 the Coast Guard interdicted 2,512 illegal migrants, less than half the 5,600 they averaged the previous five years. In 2017 the Coast Guard repatriated 1,532 Cubans, 451 Dominicans, and 1,442 Haitians who were interdicted by other agencies.