{"id":131841,"date":"2019-11-11T19:10:27","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T23:10:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=131841"},"modified":"2019-11-11T19:10:27","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T23:10:27","slug":"and-you-thought-trump-only-had-big-problems-with-the-generals-in-the-west-wing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/?p=131841","title":{"rendered":"And you thought Trump only had big problems with the generals in the West Wing!"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Video: Mass Arrest of US Marines Accused of Participating in Human Smuggling Ring<\/h1>\n<p><!--more--><div id=\"attachment_131842\" style=\"width: 1010px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/1077260395.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-131842\" src=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/1077260395.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1000\" height=\"541\" class=\"size-full wp-image-131842\" srcset=\"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/1077260395.png 1000w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/1077260395-300x162.png 300w, https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/1077260395-768x415.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-131842\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">\u00a9 YouTube\/The San Diego Union-Tribune<\/p><\/div><\/p>\n<p>SputnikNews.com<\/p>\n<div class=\"b-article__lead\">\n<p>New footage from the US Marines Corps Communication Office shows the arrest of 15 Marines by dozens of Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) agents earlier this year following an investigation into a human smuggling ring at the US-Mexico border.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"b-article__text\">\n<p>On July 25, approximately 800 US Marines of the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment were assembled at the Camp San Mateo section of Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton in San Diego County, California, for a special recognition ceremony highlighting 15 of their peers.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"marker-quote1\"><p>While the select group of Marines may have thought they were about to receive an award or honor, 5th Regiment Sgt. Major Matthew A. Dorsey quickly dismissed those thoughts when he pointed at the service members and said, \u201cNCIS, arrest these Marines,\u201d according to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/military\/story\/2019-11-06\/video-shows-july-mass-arrest-of-marines-accused-of-human-smuggling-at-camp-pendleton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">San Diego Union-Tribune<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div class=\"b-inject m-inject-free m-inject-videoembed\">\n<div class=\"b-inject__media\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" id=\"1573498201748_TBOtherPlayer_10\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/iWUFlmppKrI?enablejsapi=1\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>This mass arrest,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sputniknews.com\/us\/201907251076361353-16-us-marines-arrested-for-allegedly-smuggling-undocumented-immigrants-drugs-related-offenses\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported by Sputnik<\/a>\u00a0back in July, came three weeks after Lance Corporals David Javier Salazar-Quintero and Byron Darnell Law II\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sputniknews.com\/military\/201907091076198775-two-marines-smuggling-undocumented-migrants\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">were arrested<\/a>\u00a0on accusations of illegally transporting immigrants across the US-Mexico border \u201cfor financial gain.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are aware of the charges facing Lance Cpl. Law and Lance Cpl. Salazar-Quintero, and we continue to cooperate fully with the investigative efforts into this matter,\u201d Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Cameron Edinburgh told the Marine Corps Times after the July 3 arrest of the pair.<\/p>\n<p>That cooperation ultimately led to the arrest conducted by some 40 NCIS agents and recorded by the USMC, according to a statement from the Marine Corps.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was an eye-opening thing for the rest of the battalion,\u201d Edinburgh told the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocregister.com\/2019\/07\/25\/16-marines-arrested-while-standing-in-formation-at-camp-pendleton-accused-of-being-part-of-a-migrant-smuggling-ring\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">OC Register<\/a>\u00a0on July 25. \u201cIt had a shock and awe factor. The command wanted to send a message to make clear this type of behavior is not tolerated.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"marker-quote1\"><p>While 13 Marines were charged with conspiracy and human smuggling, and another eight troops were questioned &#8211; but not charged &#8211; in relation to suspected drug activity, lawyers representing the accused have argued that the public arrest was not only illegal, but also tainted the jury pool.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThe government\u2019s actions in this battalion formation arrest and their post-arrest comments to the battalion are wholly unacceptable and inappropriate,\u201d attorney Bethany Payton-O\u2019Brien said in a defense motion filed on Friday, reported the Union-Tribune. She went on to express that the spectacle and recording of the scene amounted to \u201cunlawful command influence\u201d on the case and cited Edinburgh\u2019s previous comments as proof of the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/sputniknews.com\/military\/201908161076561011-us-marine-corps-orders-15000-more-jlt-vehicles-after-reaching-ioc-status\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">USMC\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0actions being an illegal pretrial punishment.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"marker-quote1\"><p>Jeremiah Sullivan, another lawyer representing an accused Marine, told the Union-Tribune that the situation is \u201cpuzzling, but not surprising.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Edinburgh clarified to the outlet that the decision to record the arrest did not come from the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, but instead from the 1st Marine Division\u2019s communication strategy office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was something we felt should be done for proper visibility,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The accused Marines have remained in the Camp Pendleton brig until their pretrial dates, which have yet to be made public.<\/p>\n<p>___<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/sputniknews.com\/military\/201911081077260455-watch-mass-arrest-of-us-marines-accused-of-participating-in-human-smuggling-ring\/\">https:\/\/sputniknews.com\/military\/201911081077260455-watch-mass-arrest-of-us-marines-accused-of-participating-in-human-smuggling-ring\/<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Video: Mass Arrest of US Marines Accused of Participating in Human Smuggling Ring<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-131841","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131841","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=131841"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/131841\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=131841"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=131841"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateofthenation2012.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=131841"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}