Thread: HUMAN SMUGGLING BOAT LANDINGS ON USMC CAMP PENDLETON

HUMAN SMUGGLING BOAT LANDINGS ON CAMP PENDLETON RAISE SECURITY CONCERNS

NORTH COUNTY TIMES
SAN DIEGO / RIVERSIDE COUNTY , CALIFORNIA

By TERI FIGUEROA - tfigueroa@nctimes.com
Posted: August 7, 2010 6:56 pm

About a month ago, just before dawn, a small motorboat landed on the Camp Pendleton shoreline. On board: 18 illegal immigrants.

Ten days later, on July 16, another seafaring group landed on the base under cover of night. That time, the smuggling skiff carried 22 suspected illegal immigrants.

In both cases, Border Patrol and military officials quickly spotted, caught and arrested the people aboard the boats.

Still, the landings on the Marine Corps base raise issues of security. San Diego County's coast is home not only to military bases ---- including Camp Pendleton, which has the largest U.S. military population on the West Coast ---- but also the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station, near which at least one boat of suspected illegal immigrants was spotted this year.

"If you look at it in a national security aspect, we are a high-value target," said U.S. Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon. "San Diego would be in the top five or 10 targets across the country."

Kurt Bardella, spokesman for U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Vista, said the problem of illegal immigrants landing at Camp Pendleton "goes to the homeland security issue."

"The message it sends is that right off the shore of one our most significant military installations is the ability to land anytime and we might not know about it," Bardella said.

Camp Pendleton officials declined to say how they specifically address such security concerns in the wake of increased maritime smuggling.

But in an e-mail response to questions, base spokesman Jeff Nyhart, a retired major who now works at Camp Pendleton as a civilian, said the base has "taken prudent measures to enhance the security of the perimeter of the base along the coast."

"These efforts are to increase detection, as well as deter and prevent unauthorized attempts to access Camp Pendleton along the base's coastline," Nyhart wrote.

The ocean water west of the high-tide mark is not considered Camp Pendleton property, he said, and the base has no jurisdiction in those waters.

Nyhart acknowledged that suspected illegal immigrants have landed on the base shores in recent months, but referred questions about the number of landings to federal border officials.

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Michael Jimenez said the Border Patrol's maritime unified command works in cooperation with other agencies such as police departments in the coastal cities. They do not, though, monitor Camp Pendleton.

"In those instances where the people have entered Camp Pendleton property, they (Marines) do have their own security forces there; they are responsible for their own security," Jimenez said.

He said base officials contact the Border Patrol if they come across a suspected illegal immigrant.

The San Diego sector of the Border Patrol monitors 114 miles of coastline.

Along the local coast, in fiscal year 2007-08, Border Patrol agents arrested 230 people coming into the country illegally by sea. The figure nearly doubled the next fiscal year, jumping to 430 such arrests. The fiscal year runs from October to September.

So far in fiscal year 2009-10, with two months still remaining, federal authorities have arrested 586 seafaring illegal immigrants.

Not surprisingly, the number of boats the agency has seized is also up. In fiscal year 2008-09, authorities seized 33 vessels. Last fiscal year, the number was 49. This fiscal year, the Border Patrol says it has seized 70 vessels so far.

There's a chance that beach landings might rise in the region. The federal government plans to send, by mid-September, more than 1,000 National Guard troops to the U.S.-Mexico border ---- from California to Texas ---- for about a year to assist Border Patrol agents.

"As we secure the easy ways to cross, the bad guys are going to try the hard ways," said Hunter, the congressman from El Cajon.

Hunter, a former Marine Corps captain who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, said that while Camp Pendleton can and does protect itself, 19 or so miles of dark, undeveloped land might be hard to resist for immigrants aboard boats.

"They just see a whole lot of beach without houses or infrastructure," Hunter said. "You could reach (Interstate 5) with maybe a five-minute run. It is going to be tough and cost money, but we need to increase security, personnel and assets on the beaches there."

Call staff writer Teri Figueroa at 760-740-5442

NORTH COUNTY TIMES

bucksstar said on: August 8, 2010, 9:13 am

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WILL NOW BE POSTING THE FOLLOWING SIGNS ON AND AROUND CAMP PENDLETON :

DANGER Â* PUBLIC WARNING TRAVEL NOT RECOMMENDED

Active Drug and Human Smuggling Area

Visitors May Encounter Armed Criminals and Smuggling Vehicles Traveling at High Rates of Speed

Stay Away From Trash, Clothing, Backpacks, and Abandoned Vehicles

If You See Suspicious Activity, Do Not Confront!
Move Away and Call 911


* (Just like they did in Arizona on Federal Parklands)

NCT COMMENTS ON THIS STORY

Very scary.

"They just see a whole lot of beach without houses or infrastructure," Hunter said. "You could reach (Interstate 5) with maybe a five-minute run. It is going to be tough and cost money, but we need to increase security, personnel and assets on the beaches there."

It shouldn't be so tough. Just open a school for night beach defense operations and keep the surf filled with lead.