Hours before the sun's up over San Diego, we get on board for a rare look at border security from the Pacific Ocean. It's going to be 4-5 foot seas out there, so we're going to be getting tossed around. We plan for a few minutes to get set up.

Which way would you prefer the antenna?

It doesn't matter what's going on.

But off to the side, we noticed the crew already getting word of movements on the water.

It just passed.

I followed them to the drop so they could see where they could maybe try to have a rand on my side. Something's up.

There's a bone headed towards the sunset. This is just on the other side of this.

Suspected migrant smugglers are about to make a drop.

200 yards offshore right now.

Suddenly, we're zero to 60 on the water. That is fast and cold. Can't go through the kelp. We'll get stuck. This is a site of US Customs and Border Protection you don't often see, and for good reason. With Border Patrol on land, these agents handle the skies and seas. They're part of AMO, Air and marine operations. It's going to be just off our starboat beam heading right for the beach. And what does it sound like, a boat or jet ski?

They don't have a visual of it, so all they know is that there's a radar contact eastbound right behind us back here.

Headed our way, so they kill the lights, and we wait in the dark.

The pursuit's coming right to us right now.

Coming this way? Yeah. After a few minutes, still nothing. Seems the suspected smuggler on a jet ski turned back.

There's a lot of them coming, so we're constantly busy.

What we see at the Southern border on the land crossing, people come right up to Border Patrol agents wanting to surrender themselves. You don't see that here. People are trying to get away from you as quickly as possible.

A lot of times we're getting people that don't want to be caught because they carry criminal records, they're members of a gang. And then you get family units, too, that the smugglers have convinced that this is a safe and easy passage.

In the past year, the agents say it's become increasingly deadly. But like drug trafficking, migrant smuggling is a business.

They're reckless with their lives. They're reckless with other people's lives.

Do we know, Kurt, are they connected often to cartels? Do we know their background?

At a smaller level, yeah, this is all cartel-driven.

They often launch in the dark of night, leaving from various points along the Mexican Coast. Once they cross the maritime boundary line, the ocean's border separating the US and Mexico, the smugglers usually head to the beaches of San Diego County, where they drop off the migrants. Though But more recently, they've ended up cruising even farther north to places like Malibu.

You can actually see the boat right here just sitting on the shore.

Just before 2:00 AM Tuesday, officials say roughly two dozen migrants scattered from this boat as soon as it hit the beach. Border Patrol was able to detain 19 of them. The rest, somewhere in Malibu, more than 130 miles from the Southern border.

And if you look closely, you can see some of the remnants of what was a long journey. I mean, up here, you've got food weed wrap her left behind, some cracker remnants. You've got orange and banana peels. Then you've got trash bags in there. A lot of the times the migrants will wrap themselves in those trash bags to keep warm. Even some leftover fuel canisters.

Hours later, another beach landing. A videographer in La Hoya captures it from the surf. Watch as this boat runs ashore. You see several suspected migrants then hop off. They sprint towards the beach side homes. Cvp says they're still searching for them. The boat left stranded. Officials tell us the number of incidents along the Southwest Coast is up threefold over the last five years. And they say migrants like these often pay tens of thousands of dollars for a one runway ticket on the open ocean.

And you'll have people, Captain, actually try to swim.

They often do it at night and under fog. And sadly, it's tragic. Some of them don't always make it.

That's where the Coast Guard comes in. We join them on a deterrence patrol positioned just north of the maritime boundary line with a view of the Southern border I'd never seen before. And then right there, that's all Mexico.

Pretty much right in front of us. Yes, that's Mexico.

The Coast Guard here focused primarily on keeping folks alive. To do that, you need to keep the lines of communication open.

There really are no egos amongst the different organizations. We all speak on the same frequency. So when somebody gets notified, we're all notified at the same time.

Off your 3 5 0 28 nautical miles. That's where he's at. Off your 3 5 0.

That frequency also shared by the CBP's air assets, watching and tracking from above.

Yeah, David. So when we do detect a target, I hook it. So the system is now tracking it, and we get everything down here, right? The coordinates, where it's at, how fast it's going.

That information relayed to crews on land and sea.

They have to be prepared for anything on the water. And you're doing that at night, pitch black, six-foot seas. It can be very Challenging.

Moments like these where boats filled with migrants rush towards the shoreline, a near nightly occurrence now.

Over the last three years, we've seen an exponential increase in maritime smuggling. They don't understand fully the peril that these smugglers are putting them in. It's the callous nature of their operations and how they just don't care about human life.

We spot another team about to take off just as we touched down. Forecasting the smuggler's schedules and routes, impossible. So So the agents work all hours.

Living in the dark does wear you out. So now it's nice to get a little sun now and then.

Physically, emotionally, securing our borders, especially on the ocean, takes a toll. But there are perks, like clocking out at sunrise. That looks pretty.

My favorite time of the day.

It's phenomenal reporting, David. I mean, it's riveting. And to look at how hard those Border Patrol agents are working, as you say, all hours, no sleep, the toll it takes on them physically, mentally, yet no end in sight. This bill, which obviously doesn't look like it has a chance of passing right now, but did you get a chance to understand from those Coast Guard officers, Border Patrol officers, what they think that the bill would mean if it did pass for them on the sea crossings?

Erin, when you talk to those agents, any added resources are certainly welcome. But what's really interesting whenever you see a potential shift in policy from the US side is what we see south of the border. Our reporting down there has always shown that there is a motivation then to try to cross quicker and more efficiently if they're able to, anytime there are suggestions that it's going to be tougher to get through the land crossing. So if, and it is a big if, as you point out, and as you and Monty were talking about, this legislation comes to fruition, then yes, that is something that could potentially help on the land crossings, but it could add more pressure to the folks who are monitoring these oceans and determination and desperation to come by sea.

All right. Well, it's really incredible. And incredible what they said. Family units right now, obviously, but also, as you were talking to some of those agents, some criminal contingent as well taking the risk crossing by sea because they can be more evasive that way. All right. Thank you so much, David Culver.