The United States Marine Corps has initiated a pilot program with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in an effort to bolster perimeter security at Marine Bases following attempted breaches by foreign nationals in recent years, according to Fox News.
ICE agents will be stationed at three major military installations: Camp Pendleton in California, Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia, and Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
A Pentagon official stated to Fox News Digital:
Our cooperative effort with ICE at MCB Camp Pendleton, MCB Quantico and MCB Hawaii is a pilot program that aligns with the enhanced security measures we are implementing at all our installations worldwide to deter unauthorized installation access by foreign nationals.
The cooperation between ICE and the U.S. Marine Corps comes after some high-profile incidents involving foreign nationals, most notably the 2023 attempted breach at Quantico by two Jordanian nationals. One of the nationals was in the U.S. illegally, and the other was a foreign student whose visa had expired.
Other major incidents include reported unauthorized drone flights over military installations, and a report by the Wall Street Journal that around 100 Chinese Nationals have attempted to infiltrate military bases.
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Abby Hall Blanco, a University of Tampa economics and defense professor, has cited some concerns with this pilot program, raising general questions about U.S. military base security. She said:
It gives kind of an odd impression that the Marine Corps is not handling its own security sufficiently. Having known quite a few Marines in my time, I can't imagine that they would find that to be a particularly flattering interpretation.
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