New Immigration Checkpoint Proposed for Interstate 5

Federal immigration authorities, seeking to improve their detection of smugglers driving north with loads of illegal aliens and narcotics, unveiled a proposal Tuesday for a new U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on northbound Interstate 5, the main thoroughfare between the border and Los Angeles.

The proposed $15-million facility would replace the existing checkpoint, which immigration officials say is so overburdened that most smugglers can drive through undetected. Motorists have often expressed frustration with long traffic tie-ups at the checkpoint, a problem that Border Patrol officials say would be alleviated with construction of a new facility.

“We just can’t do the job right now,” said Harold Ezell, Western regional commissioner for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service, parent body of the Border Patrol.

Officials stressed that the plan is still in its preliminary stages, but said the U.S. Marine Corps has already agreed to provide about five acres of land from nearby Camp Pendleton for the new inspection station, which would require motorists to leave the highway altogether and fan out into 15 to 18 inspection lanes.

Although all motorists would be required to exit the freeway for inspection, officials insisted that the additional lanes would actually allay the sometimes-monumental traffic tieups that now plague the checkpoint.

No money has been set aside for construction of the facility, and the new checkpoint would not be operational for at least three years, INS officials said.

Nationwide, the Border Patrol maintains checkpoints on about two dozen major thoroughfares leading from the 1,900-mile border to inland U.S. areas where many undocumented immigrants seek jobs.

The checkpoint on the northbound lanes of Interstate 5, situated near the San Diego-Orange county line, is the busiest in the nation, with about 225 aliens being arrested each day and as many as 5,000 cars passing through each hour at peak times.

Although designed to detect illegal immigrants, checkpoint agents have increasingly been making large seizures of drugs, cash and weapons.

Immigration authorities revealed the plan for a new checkpoint in a news conference called to commend six agents who stopped and searched vehicles Aug. 7 that were later found to contain 477 pounds of cocaine, 60 pounds of marijuana and 22 semi-automatic pistols.