A wooden skiff believed to have been ferrying migrants toward the U.S. capsized in stormy seas near San Diego, leaving at least four people dead and four hospitalized, the Coast Guard said Saturday.
The U.S. Border Patrol found the vessel in the surf off Imperial Beach late Friday night. Six people were found on the beach just before midnight, one of whom was pronounced dead and another who was rescued after being found under the boat.
About two hours later, authorities received a report of someone in the water near Imperial Beach Pier. A Coast Guard crew responded and found three people in the ocean, all dead.
The Coast Guard said Saturday that it was continuing to search for others who may have been on board.
Several of the survivors claimed Mexican nationality, while others remained unidentified, the agency said. One person was turned over to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Our crews and partner agencies responded immediately, but this case demonstrates the severe risks posed to aliens attempting to enter the United States by sea in unstable vessels,” said Coast Guard Capt. Robert Tucker, Sector San Diego commander.
A strong storm system hit Southern California over the weekend, prompting warnings of flash flooding and mudslides. The vessel was a panga — single- or twin-engine open fishing boat that is also commonly used by smugglers.
Migrants are increasingly turning to the risky alternative offered by smugglers to travel by sea to avoid heavily guarded land borders, including off California’s coast. Pangas leave Mexico in the dead of night and sometimes chart hundreds of miles (kilometers) north.
There have been several incidents in recent years of migrant vessels capsizing en route to California.
In May, at least three people died when a panga flipped off the coast about 35 miles (56 km) north of the U.S.-Mexico border.
In 2023, eight people were killed when two migrant smuggling boats approached a San Diego beach in heavy fog and one of them capsized in the surf. It was one of the deadliest maritime smuggling incidents in waters off the U.S. coast.
A federal judge sentenced a San Diego man to 18 years in prison in 2022 for piloting a small vessel overloaded with 32 migrants that smashed apart in powerful surf off the coast, killing three people and injuring more than two dozen.
Worldwide, nearly 9,000 people died last year attempting to cross borders, according to the U.N. agency for migration. The death toll set a record for the fifth year in a row.
The U.N. Missing Migrant Project puts the number of dead and missing in the central Mediterranean at over 24,506 between 2014 and 2024, many of them lost at sea. The project says the number may be greater as many deaths go unrecorded.
This photo provided by the Defense Visual Information Distribution Service shows a capsized boat on Friday, Nov. 14, 2025, off the coast of Imperial Beach, Calif. (Petty Officer 3rd Class Roberto Nieves/Defense Visual Information Distribution Service via AP)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Saturday presented medals to the 2025 Kennedy Center honorees during an event in the Oval Office, hailing the slate of artists he had a hand in choosing as “perhaps the most accomplished and renowned class” ever assembled.
This year's recipients are actor Sylvester Stallone, singers Gloria Gaynor and George Strait, the rock band Kiss and actor-singer Michael Crawford.
Trump ignored the Kennedy Center and its premier awards program during his first term as president. But the Republican instituted a series of changes since returning to office in January, most notably ousting its board of trustees and replacing them with GOP supporters who voted him in as chairman.
Trump also has criticized the center's programming and its physical appearance, and vowed to overhaul both.
The president placed around each honoree's neck a new medal that was designed, created and donated by jeweler Tiffany & Co., according to the Kennedy Center and Trump.
It's a gold disc etched on one side with the Kennedy Center's image and rainbow colors. The honoree's name appears on the reverse side with the date of the ceremony. The medallion hangs from a navy blue ribbon and replaces a large rainbow ribbon decorated with three gold plates that rested on the honoree's shoulders and chest.
Songs by honorees Gaynor and Kiss played in the Rose Garden just outside the Oval Office as members of the White House press corps waited nearby to be admitted.
The president said in August that he was “about 98% involved” in choosing the 2025 honorees when he personally announced them at the Kennedy Center, the first slate chosen under his leadership. The honorees traditionally had been announced by press release.
It was unclear how they were chosen. Before Trump, it fell to a bipartisan selection committee.
Later Saturday, after the Oval Office event, Trump was scheduled to attend an annual State Department dinner for the honorees. In years past, the honorees would receive their medallions at the dinner but Trump has moved the ceremony to the White House.
Meanwhile, the glitzy Kennedy Center Honors program and its series of tribute performances for each recipient is set to be taped on Sunday at the performing arts center for broadcast later in December on CBS and Paramount+. Trump is to attend the program for the first time as president, accompanied by his wife, first lady Melania Trump.
The president said in August that he would host the show, but the White House has not characterized his level of participation. Presidents traditionally attend the program and sit with the honorees in the audience. None has ever served as host.
“I’ve been asked to host. I said, ‘I’m the president of the United States. Are you fools asking me to do that?'” Trump said back then. “And then Susie Wiles said to me, ‘Sir, I’d like you to host.' I said, OK, Susie, I’ll do it,” Trump said, referring to his White House chief of staff.
Trump spent several hours at the Kennedy Center on Friday. He participated in the FIFA World Cup draw for 2026 and accepted its inaugural peace prize. Trump also met in a group with the leaders of Canada and Mexico.
President Donald Trump, center, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump, left, presents Michael Crawford with his Kennedy Center Honors medal in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump, left, speaks as he presents Sylvester Stallone, George Strait, KISS, Gloria Gaynor and Michael Crawford with their Kennedy Center Honors medals in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
President Donald Trump, left, presents George Strait with his Kennedy Center Honors medal in the Oval Office of the White House, Saturday, Dec. 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)
FILE - The Hall of Nations at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, Nov. 22, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rahmat Gul, file)
Kiss band member Gene Simmons speaks to members of the media at the White House, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
President Donald Trump speaks before a concert by Andrea Bocelli in the East Room of the White House walking towards the East Room, Friday, Dec. 5, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Allison Robbert)
