Coast guard instructions

The Secretary of Defense, in consultation, when appropriate, with the Attorney General and the Secretary of State, shall instruct the Coast Guard to deter and prevent the unlawful entry of aliens into the United States by sea. Such instructions shall include directives providing for stopping and boarding vessels, making inquiries of persons and inspecting documents and property on board such vessels, and returning a vessel to the country from which it came or to another country. In the case of vessels outside the territorial sea of the United States, such instructions shall be limited to vessels of the United States, vessels without nationality, vessels assimilated to vessels without nationality, and vessels of foreign nations with which the United States has arrangements authorizing the United States to stop and board such vessels. Except as otherwise provided in the preceding sentence, actions pursuant to this section are authorized to be undertaken both within and beyond the territorial sea of the United States.