Illegals interfering with military training

When I was in Camp Pendleton, in Oceanside California, only about a half hour or so north of the border, it was a relatively common occurrence when we'd have to shut down a rifle range or stop an exercise due to illegal aliens crossing the area. We were given orders not to touch, harass, or even say anything to these criminals, but MP's were called, and they dealt with the issues. I wouldn't know the exact numbers of arrests as a result, but I always wondered.

Well, I get my monthly American Legion magazine, and what should I find? Some hard numbers:

500- Minimum number of times the presence of illegal aliens* shut down the training range at the Marine Corps Air Station near Yuma AZ between July 2005 and April 2005

1100- approximate number of training hours lost due to illegal aliens* at the training area, which spans about 20 miles along the US-Mexico border where testing of laser weapons, bombs, machine guns, and 209 mm cannons is conducted.

1500- minimum number of illegal aliens* detained on the range in 2004

1100- minimum number of illegal aliens* detained on the training range in only the first three months of 2005.

(* They use the term illegal immigrants, or undocumented immigrants. I believe that lowers the outrage level by not reminding you consistently that these people are breaking the law, thus I changed the word. My blog, my perogative)

Just wondering what's going to happen when a laser guided bomb lands on a nice family from Guadalajara. Is Vicente Fox going to lodge a formal complaint at the UN? Will we have to stop training altogether?

There was at least one fatality that I know of where we were doing a night-fire (with tracers and everything) and an idiot illegal walked right through the range. Not sure how many of us hit him, but we didn't know he was there until the next day when they found his body found at the range. A huge investigation ensued, but no negligence was found. But that was about 15 years ago. Bet all of the pro-immigration folks would be up in arms now.

Other posts:
Illegal Alien Myths
Minuteman aftermath
Immigration-A Republican splitting point
Mexico=Not our friendly neighbors