An illegal alien from China was arrested for breaching a Marine Corps base in California and refusing to leave.
As Just The News reports, the Chinese national drove onto the base in Twentynine Palms on Wednesday and refused to leave the area, at which point he was arrested. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) also confirmed that he was not in the country legally.
“His purpose & intent behind his actions are still being investigated,” said Chief Border Patrol Agent Gregory Bovino in a statement on X. The Chinese illegal was taken in for more processing upon his arrest. The base is formally known as the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms, and was founded in 1952.
The incident is just the latest in a series of over 100 instances of Chinese nationals trying to infiltrate American military bases in the last several years. Later in the same week, another Chinese national, Zhang Wei, was arrested after climbing the fence at Camp Pendleton, also in California.
The frequency of such breaches or attempted breaches are considered by some to be another strategy of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) to test the security weaknesses of American military bases, as part of their broader espionage program against the United States. It has previously been documented that multiple Chinese government-linked entities have been buying up American land in close proximity to military bases, drawing greater scrutiny and even crackdowns from several governors.