MONITOR HEARINGS

In Deaths

Parents of those killed in ’20 vehicle sinking frustrated by results

BY ANDREW DYER

Aleta Bath sat alone in the back of a Camp Pendleton military courtroom, shaking her head as a lawyer explained to three Marine Corps officers why his client was not at fault in the tragic 2020 sinking of an armored amphibious troop transport.

The board had heard testimony that the Marines received training on escaping the vehicles. Bath knew that was disputed by the Corps’ own official investigation.

“No,” she said to herself.

“That’s not true.”

On her lap lay a photo of her son in his Marine Corps uniform. Pfc. Evan Bath, 19, and seven other young Marines and asailor died when their Assault Amphibious Vehicle known as an “amtrack” or “track” by Marines sank beneath the waves of the Pacific two summers ago. Her cellphone was open to the texts she exchanged with him up to the day he died.

Bath and a handful of other parents of those killed have been a consistent and determined presence over the past month in the hearing rooms where Marines of various ranks

SEE PARENTS A19

IMMIGRATION DRIVING U.S. POPULATION INCREASE AS BIRTHS SLOW

Fewer babies, rise in deaths bring growth rate down to just 0.1%

BY MIRIAM JORDAN & ROBERT GEBELOFF

Overall 2021 will go down as the year with the slowest population growth in U.S. history.

New census data shows why: Both components of growth gains from immigration and the number of births in excess of the number of deaths have fallen sharply in recent years. In 2021, the rate of population growth fell to an unprecedented 0.1 percent.

Yet within these sluggish figures, a new pattern is emerging. Immigration, even at reduced levels, is for the first time making up a majority of population growth

In part this is because Americans are dying at higher rates and having fewer babies, trends accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. But it is also because there are signs that immigration is picking up again. Even after four years of stringent controls on immigration imposed under former President Donald Trump, the overall share of Americans born in other countries is not only rising but also coming close to levels last seen in the

SEE POPULATION A8