Southeast of San Diego, California, January, 2078, Tuesday…

George Campbell looked at the green figures straggling down the arroyo through his XM25's scope and smiled. His little band of Christian Soldiers were at the right place and the right time.

In spite of a heavy National Guard presence along the southern border of the US, there were also many vigilantes there who had taken upon themselves to help the National Guard. Most of them did little more than turn the illegals into the authorities, only using violence in response to violence. After crossing the desert, it was unusual for the illegals to be violent, even at night. The desert had a way of sapping the strength of even the strongest.

Even at the turn of the century men like Campbell had been alarmed by the illegals coming over the border, for many reasons. Some were concerned about economic issues; their worry was that illegals would steal jobs, fill their schools, or overrun their hospitals. Others were concerned about potential increases in crime; as with any immigration, there was a small percentage of lowlifes who added to an ever increasing level of crime and violence in the US. Even some were concerned about the illegals themselves, about how they would be mistreated or exploited in the migrant workers' camps spread through the west, the cheap labor that kept the eastern states happy about the price of Californian avocados, tomatoes, and other produce.