Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations seized a vessel packed with at least 63 illegal immigrants, including criminals, headed for Puerto Rico.

The agents worked with Puerto Rico authorities to intercept the "yola"-type vessel, according to a CBP news release.

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Officials located the crammed vessel as it moved east toward Puerto Rico's southwestern coast on Friday.

"Agents escorted the vessel to the AMO boat station, where Ramey Sector Border Patrol Agents arrested 63 undocumented migrants," the release read.

At least 46 men and six women were from the Dominican Republic and one woman and eight men were from Haiti, according to CBP.

"A voyage on a 'yola' is dangerous when boarding a rustic wooden boat, which takes on water during the journey," Creighton Skeen, the director of air and marine operations in the Caribbean, said.

"These unseaworthy vessels are only fitted with a single engine, they usually try to cross the sea overloaded and without life vests," Skeen said.

The journey from the Dominican Republic to Puerto Rico is approximately 80 nautical miles, and trying to make it in a rustic and inadequate boat is dangerous for the lives of those on board and the lives of officials sent to save them when disaster strikes, according to CBP.

"People who venture to enter the United States illegally not only expose themselves to being victims of the criminal organizations that transport them and the inherent danger of the trip, but they also expose themselves to the inconveniences of formal administrative or criminal prosecution if they are arrested by Border Patrol agents," Desi DeLeon, the chief patrol agent for Ramey Sector in Puerto Rico, said.

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After the "yola" vessel was seized, agents transported those found aboard to the Ramey Border Patrol station for processing and removal.

"During initial processing agents found that five individuals had been deported after felony convictions for aggravated felonies such as manslaughter, assault, and narcotics trafficking, and will be prosecuted under title 8 USC 1326, for re-entry of a previously deported non-citizen," the release read.