The Coast Guard intercepted a boat with 16 illegal aliens on board about 15 miles off the coast of Mission Bay in California on Sunday morning.

The Coast Guard said in a press release that at about 12 a.m., cutter Active notified Joint Harbor Operations Center of a 25-foot panga-style vessel with about 15-20 people on board, about a mile south of their position.

A panga boat is a narrow, high-bowed type of vessel often used by drug and human smugglers. The cutter Active and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Air and Marine Operations boat crew launched boarding teams to assess the situation.

During the investigation, the Coast Guard boarding team discovered 16 immigrants aboard the panga.

Coast Guard Commandant Adm. Linda Fagan was removed from her post after President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office. (Getty Images)

Fox News Digital first reported that President Donald Trump fired the commandant of the USCG, Adm. Linda Lee Fagan, over concerns about the border, recruitment and an “erosion of trust.”

Officials claimed Fagan failed to address border security threats, provided insufficient leadership in recruitment and retention, had an excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, and covered up Operation Fouled Anchor, which was the Coast Guard’s internal investigation into sexual assault cases at the Coast Guard Academy.

Fox News Digital’s Alexandra Koch contributed to this report.