I heard they were crossing the border with WMD, too!!!
"Illegal immigrants find new route to enter United States: the Pacific" by Elliot Spagat, Associated Press | August 29, 2010
SAN DIEGO — The speedboat is about 3 miles offshore when a US Customs and Border Protection agent cuts the engine to drift on the current in quiet darkness, hoping for the telltale signs of immigrant smuggling — a motor’s whirr or sulfur exhaust fumes.
“It’s like trying to find a needle in a haystack, and the haystack is the Pacific Ocean,’’ agent Tim Feige said, minutes before sunrise.
This is a new frontier for illegal immigrants entering the United States — a roughly 400-square-mile ocean expanse that runs from a bullring on the shores of Tijuana, Mexico, to suburban Los Angeles.
In growing numbers, migrants are gambling their lives at sea as land crossings become even more arduous and likely to end in arrest. Sea interdictions and arrests have spiked year-over-year for three years, as enforcement efforts are increased to meet the challenge.
While only a small fraction of border arrests are at sea, authorities say, heightened enforcement on land, and a bigger fence, is making the offshore route more attractive....
So where is the COAST GUARD?
Related: Calling All Coasts
Ummm, what the hell are they doing guarding OIL PIPELINES in IRAQ when we NEED THEM HERE!
The smugglers use old, single-engine wooden vessels known in Mexico as pangas. They’re several feet wide and about 25 feet long. If they are found on US waters, they are almost invariably smuggling people or drugs.
US authorities have stepped up sea patrols near the border, forcing pangas loaded with illegal immigrants and sometimes with marijuana farther offshore, with landings farther north....
Six boats have landed at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps base, more than 50 miles north of the border, since November, including two that were abandoned. The base, a short hike to Interstate 5, has stepped up security.
Authorities believe smugglers put their passengers ashore and return to Mexico, when possible, to avoid losing their boats and leaving evidence behind. But they also quickly abandon the boats and run for it if they sense they are about to be caught.
Or infiltrate America to set up a terrorist cell, right?
Smuggling on California waters dates back to the alcohol trade during Prohibition, but authorities noticed a change in late 2007 when pangas began traveling without lights at night with up to 25 people packed on open decks.
At up to $5,000 a person — roughly twice the fee to cross illegally over land — one overnight trip can generate $100,000.
Some arrests at sea may be a result of heightened enforcement....
Only two immigrants are known to have been killed crossing in US waters, their boat overturning off San Diego in January. Two months earlier, eight were rescued atop an overturned boat that was adrift for a day. Smugglers have been arrested on both sides of the border, with those in the United States being sentenced to a year or two in prison.
In Mexico, the boats launch from a poor fishing village named Popotla, about 15 miles south of the border. It is between Playa de Rosarito’s high-rise hotels and condos that cater to American tourists and expatriates and next to the studio where the 1997 blockbuster “Titanic’’ was filmed.
Now you know from where the CIA monitors its drug shipments -- and I don't mean the movie studio!
Squatters live in about two dozen shanties crammed on a hillside. There is no electricity, paved road, sewage, or garbage collection.
This is the 21st century and Mexico is awash in oil, right?
Can you say failed state?
But it is easy to understand why smugglers are drawn to the village. It is out of view from the highway only 200 yards away, and it is the only public boat launching spot on a 50-mile stretch south of the border.
Then why don't the authorities shut it down?
They obviously don't care about the people!
Authorities have failed to pierce the top ranks of smuggling organizations.
That's because THEY ARE the smuggling organizations!
The low-slung boats, when weighed down with people, float only about one foot above water, making them difficult to see on radar.
Night-vision binoculars have limited reach.
They ALWAYS HAVE EXCUSES, notice that?
So ALL THAT $$$ spent on the HIGH-TECH TYRANNY was a HUGE WASTE, huh?
--more--"
I would appreciate it if the terrorists would wait until after my basketball game tonight. Thanks.
Update:
I thank whichever God you ascribe to for allowing this old shell with fading stamina to help our over-matched squad win three out of four with me sinking the game-winner (with a foul) of the third game!
I left the gym loving my team tonight -- and I thought the same of you as I was racing home to add this, dear readers.
Btw, I watched a little of the Brazil-U.S. basketball game this afternoon.
US got luuuu-key!
