Another day, another smuggler who was already kicked out of this country once and came right back to run people in for cash. Federal prosecutors say a previously deported Mexican national is now facing charges after an alleged maritime smuggling attempt in Newport Beach Harbor. The details are exactly what you'd expect from the crowd that treats our coastline like a delivery lane.

The case, first reported by Edhat, involves moving illegal aliens into the country by boat through one of Orange County's busiest recreational harbors. That part should get everyone's attention. This wasn't a midnight run up an empty stretch of remote shoreline. Newport Beach is a working harbor with residents, boaters, and tourists all around it. Smugglers don't care. If there's water and a payout, they'll try it.

The suspect is a Mexican national who had already been deported from the United States before this alleged run, according to the report. Reentry after deportation is a federal crime, and prosecutors are piling that charge on top of the smuggling counts. Good. That's how you build a case that actually sticks, instead of processing a guy through catch-and-release and waving goodbye.

Maritime smuggling is a business, and the only thing that has ever slowed these operations down is interception plus real prison time. When the odds of getting caught and actually doing years in a federal facility go up, the business case for the run goes down. That's not theory. That's basic deterrence, and it works every time we bother to apply it.

The suspect now faces the federal system, which is the right place for him. There was a stretch in recent years when a previously deported smuggler picked up in a California harbor would've been handed to local authorities, released under some sanctuary nonsense, and reabsorbed into the pipeline before the paperwork dried. Cases like this one are the proof those days are ending.

A man who was deported once allegedly came back to smuggle people into a harbor full of families and boaters. He got caught, he's charged, and he's facing a federal courtroom. Call it what it is: the system working for once, and long may it continue.