The crew of 270' Famous-class medium endurance cutter Seneca (WMEC 906) returned to its home port in Portsmouth, Va., following a 54-day maritime border security patrol in the Windward Passage.
Seneca crewmembers directly contributed to safeguarding America by patrolling U.S. maritime borders and conducting migrant interdiction operations.
While underway in the Windward Passage, Seneca’s crew interdicted an unsafe and illegal voyage with 99 migrants on board. A U.S. Customs and Border Protection – Air and Marine Operations aircrew initially detected the vessel. Seneca crewmembers launched a small boat, interdicting the vessel and taking the migrants aboard the cutter before their repatriation to Haiti.
The Coast Guard, along with its partners, maintains a continual presence with air, land, and sea assets in the Florida Straits, the Windward Passage, the Mona Passage, and the Caribbean Sea in support of OVS. This multi-layered approach is designed to protect the safety of life at sea while preventing unlawful maritime entry to the U.S. and its territories.
