Border battle over illegal immigration shifts to beaches

U.S. and Mexican authorities try to stem a rising tide of illegal immigration by boat.
By Richard Marosi,
Los Angeles Times
8:03 PM PDT, March 24, 2011

Reporting from Ensenada

The immigrants heard the engine slow as the pilot steered through breakers. Twelve hours earlier, they had shoved off from a beach near Ensenada. Now, they were bobbing off Red Beach at Camp Pendleton. Out in the darkness, California beckoned.

"Jump out!" barked the pilot.

The 17 immigrants climbed over the side of the rickety boat, stumbling and splashing their way through the surf where U.S. Marines usually charge ashore in armored vehicles during amphibious assault exercises.

"I couldn't run because I had been sitting in the boat for so long," said Maribel Ruiz. "But the pilot kept yelling, 'Run! Run! Run!' It was terrible."

(More here.)