[CPEO-MEF] Border crossings hinder Marine training in Arizona

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Border crossings hinder training at Ariz. bases
Illegal immigrants found on test range

By Karen Schaler
Boston Globe
April 7, 2005

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION YUMA, Ariz. -- Marines preparing for combat in
Iraq or Afghanistan have lost significant amounts of training time
because undocumented immigrants from Mexico have constantly wandered
onto a bombing test range in Arizona, according to the commander of this
base along the border.

Virtually every Marine squadron headed to Iraq or Afghanistan receives
combat training at the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, which for
nearly 40 miles touches the US-Mexico border in the southwestern corner
of Arizona. The Border Patrol's focus in recent years on tightening the
border in the eastern part of the state, where volunteer citizens this
month have established their own observation posts, has pushed more
undocumented immigrants westward.

Since July 2004, the training range has been shut down more than 500
times because of immigrants spotted on the range, causing a loss of more
than 1,100 training hours, said Colonel James J. Cooney, the base's
commanding officer.

..

For the entire article, see
http://www.cpeo.org/lists/brownfields/2005/msg00019.html

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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