"and two, if by sea..."

Or, The Mexicans are coming, the Mexicans are coming…”on the rising tide, like a bridge of boats.”

News comes to us from San Diego that an increasing number of abandoned boats have been found on the beaches of San Diego County. The activity is taking place between Imperial Beach on the south and Del Mar on the north.

Border crosser apprehensions have been UP 7% in the area this year, which runs counter to the trend elsewhere along the border where apprehensions are down 20%. It’s hard to say if the difference is one of activity or enforcement.

Maritime approaches were predicted long ago as a byproduct of tougher enforcement measures at the border, which only strengthens the theory that we need to dry up the REASONS they want to come here and have a vigorous deportation program.

Here’s how it works: They take an old pleasure boat, fill it with illegal aliens, and make a beach landing somewhere on the U S side. Imperial Beach is only three miles from the Mexican border so they aren’t making a long journey.

The boats are in bad shape to begin with so they just walk (or should I say, run) away from them and into our society, leaving it behind.

It must be somewhat embarrassing for our government since the area is peppered with active military installations along the coast. Here’s a list:

Imperial Beach Naval Air Station
United States Naval Radio Station
United States Naval Amphibious Base
North Island Naval Air Station
Halsey Field
Fort Rosecrans Military Reservation (where the remains of soldiers killed in the Mexican-American War are buried)
Camp Pendleton Marine Base
(I left off Miramar Air Station which is seven miles inland)

Here’s an eyewitness account, courtesy of The San Diego Union Tribune (They do provide us with something besides Ruben Navarrette): “In September, a 24-foot boat washed ashore at La Jolla's Wipeout Beach, south of the lifeguard tower at Children's Pool. A homeless woman who had been sleeping nearby told lifeguards she had seen about 10 people come out of the water and run away. She said they had been wearing black.”
Why do I see mental images of DDG67 when I read that?

We need a little Longfellow about now. “A cry of defiance and not of fear.”