Chases Not Worth the Risk

It will probably take another two or three years for a proposed U.S. Border Patrol immigration checkpoint to be built on the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 south of San Clemente. The crucial question is how many more people will be killed and injured before that new checkpoint is finally opened.

Shortly before noon Monday, two suspected illegal aliens died and two others were critically injured when their car, being pursued by Border Patrol agents from the checkpoint, swerved to avoid slow-moving traffic ahead of it and crashed into a van parked on the freeway shoulder in San Clemente.

High-speed chases involving Border Patrol agents in pursuit of suspected illegal aliens who run the checkpoint without stopping are disturbingly common--about four to six each month, according to Border Patrol agents. Every chase is loaded with potential disaster.

San Clemente officials for years have been protesting the pursuits that often wind up in their city. Last December, 10 suspected illegal Mexican immigrants were injured following a chase and crash on a freeway off-ramp in San Clemente. A year earlier, seven others were injured in another chase that ended in a crash on a major San Clemente street. City officials and residents protest every time, and federal officials reaffirm their well-intentioned pledge to maintain public safety in future pursuits. But the chases, and accidents, keep happening.

Federal officials say there will be no problem when the new checkpoint replaces the old onebecause it will be designed to make escape from the checkpoint more difficult.

The chases are difficult situations for Border Patrol agents, as they are for any police agency. When a driver speeds off, officers don’t know who they are chasing or why the suspect fled. It could be a killer being sought for murder. But when a vehicle at the checkpoint fits the profile agents are looking for, it is fairly certain that the occupants are only trying to enter the country illegally. And that generally is not sufficient reason jeopardize life and community safety.

Several months ago Border Patrol agents from the San Clemente checkpoint chased a vehicle with suspected illegal immigrants for about an hour in Orange and Los Angeles counties. Speeds reached 90 m.p.h. Finally the driver pulled off the freeway, stopped the car and ran. He escaped, but three illegal immigrants in the car were captured. They were allowed to voluntarily return to Mexico. Fortunately the chase was in the wee hours of the morning. Otherwise it could have ended like the one Monday morning in San Clemente.

The capture of a handful of illegal immigrants is not worth the danger, death and injury that can be involved in any high-speed pursuit. Federal officials must speed up the timetable for construction of the new checkpoint so that the perilous chases can be avoided. Until it opens, agents must be held to a strict policy of breaking off pursuits as soon as they threaten to become dangerous either to the pursued or the pursuers. They are not worth the risk they pose for the fleeing suspects, the agents and innocent motorists in their path.