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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsInside a Massive Human Smuggling Ring Led by US Marines
Link to tweet
https://www.vice.com/en/article/bvn5z3/camp-pendleton-marines-migrant-human-smuggling
Byron Law knew what he was doing was illegal. But the money was too good to pass up. On the morning of July 3, 2019, the 20-year-old and his friend headed out for another run in Laws black BMW, eager to make some extra cash before the long holiday weekend. With any luck, theyd be finished by lunch.
Law pulled onto a dirt patch on the side of the highway about seven miles north of the U.S.Mexico border. Somewhere in the vast expanse of sand, shrubs, and granite rock, two men and a woman emerged from their hiding spot, ran down the hill, and hopped into the backseat of Laws car. They each carried a backpack. Their shoes were covered in grass and dirt.
For the hundreds of migrants crossing into the U.S. without permission each day, the border itself is just the beginning: Next are a hundred miles of checkpoints on roads and highways that stretch well into the interior of Texas, Arizona, and California. To reach their destination, migrants rely on smugglers hiding them along the way, inside of dump trucks, tractor trailers, even coffins, to evade detection.
But Law and his friend werent just any smugglers. They were U.S. Marines, sworn to uphold the values and laws of the U.S.
Law was one of more than a dozen Marines in the 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton who started smuggling migrants into the U.S. in the spring and summer of 2019even while thousands of their fellow Marines were deployed to the border to shore up security. At their peak, according to court records, they were going on multiple runs a week, coordinating among themselves to see who was free to go, and making excuses to get out of training exercises in order to make a few hundred dollars.
*snip*
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Inside a Massive Human Smuggling Ring Led by US Marines (Original Post)
Nevilledog
Feb 2022
OP
Is there any institution, business or organization in this country that hasn't been corrupted?
scarletlib
Feb 2022
#2
Bayard
(22,011 posts)1. Shameful
"making excuses to get out of training exercises". No one higher up noticed a pattern sooner?
scarletlib
(3,410 posts)2. Is there any institution, business or organization in this country that hasn't been corrupted?
Its just so depressing.
progressoid
(49,951 posts)3. Support the troops!11!
WhiskeyGrinder
(22,308 posts)4. Lol K&R
LonePirate
(13,408 posts)5. No wonder RWers are always complaining about illegal border crossings. Their buddies are doing it.
a kennedy
(29,618 posts)7. THIS EXACTLY......
albacore
(2,398 posts)6. But.... but..... but....
The gunny said I should follow this Marine Corps motto.... So I did. And now, everybody is pissed at me.
radicalleft
(478 posts)8. Not sure I like the headline of this article
It reads as if the United States Marine Corp. is responsible, not a few active duty Marines.
Wounded Bear
(58,604 posts)9. This makes me sad...nt
Chainfire
(17,474 posts)10. It would not surprise me a bit
If the smugglers were also some of the most vocal migrant haters.