From the Halls of Montezuma

By Mark Krikorian on March 23, 2011
"13 Illegal Immigrants Arrested in California Wearing U.S. Marine Uniforms"

. Not only was their illegal entry into the U.S. a crime but impersonating a member of the armed forces is also a crime. But don't hold your breath for them to be prosecuted — U.S. Attorneys often don't bother to prosecute even re-entry after deportation, which is a felony, because they're just "willing workers", don't you know.

Perhaps the only reason this group of illegals was stopped at all was that their uniforms all had the name "Perez" on them. Fodder for a "least competent criminals" entry at News of the Weird.

UPDATE: This from a reader at the Corner on National Review Online, where I cross-posted this:

I read your short article this morning on the Corner about the illegals dressed as Marines. I work for the Army, and after checking with my Force Protection guy who briefed that incident this morning I am allowed to give you a few more small details that do not violate security. One is that the illegals were not merely dressed as Marines. They were dressed to full specification as Marines, not merely wearing Marine camo. This tells me they researched exactly how Marines dress, down to how their boot laces are tied. There were also two American citizens in the car with the illegals. I don’t know if they were naturalized citizens or born in the US nor do I know what ethnicity they were. They were all trying to gain entry to a military base at El Centro, purpose unknown at this time. Also, the license plate was a stolen Government plate.

My personal opinion (and this is me speculating and I don’t speak for the Army or the Government) is that this is not just a bunch of illegals looking for work. This was planned, though granted not very well given the name tags all being Perez and no one with a military ID. I suspect this may be considered an attempted terrorist incursion. But let me restate, this is only my personal opinion. Make of it what you will.


If I had to guess, I'd say the odds are against this being anything but a clever scheme to smuggle ordinary illegal aliens, though if they had in fact tried to gain entrance to what I assume is the Naval Air Facility at El Centro, that is disturbing. But ultimately it doesn't matter as far as the policy implications — if dishwashers can sneak across your border, so can terrorists and drug-smugglers.