Critics React to Border Plan: Ditch the Ditch

First federal officials said a simple fence would do the job. Then a San Diego congressman suggested National Guard Troops. And now a 5-foot-deep, 4 1/2-mile-long ditch is being billed as the antidote for smuggling of illegal immigrants and drugs across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Andrea Skorepa, for one, wonders what’s next.

“Maybe they should try deploying “Star Wars” (former President Reagan’s strategic defense initiative) here and see if that does the trick,” said Skorepa, a San Ysidro resident and chairwoman of Mayor Maureen O’Connor’s Latino Advisory Committee.

Skorepa’s comments Wednesday typified much of the community reaction that has greeted a federal government proposal to dig a ditch along the border near the Otay Mesa port of entry. Weary of watching federal officials propose what they labeled expensive, impractical solutions to the multifaceted problem of illegal immigration, these critics seemed to be sending a clear message:

Ditch the ditch.

Federal officials, stung by mounting public opposition to this latest idea, said they have gained support from the Mexican government for a ditch because it will also serve as a drainage channel along the border.

Spokesmen for federal agencies, however, gave contradictory answers when asked about it on Wednesday.

Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman Greg Leo said in Washington that the ditch is one of several alternatives being studied to stop smugglers from moving illegal aliens and drugs across the border at Otay Mesa, a relatively flat area where trucks and other vehicles are operated easily.

“The idea that a ditch will be dug at the border is a little premature,” he said.

At a San Diego press conference, however, it sounded like plans for the ditch were more than idle talk. Border Patrol Chief Agent Dale Cozart said it could be in place by the end of the year, after an environmental impact study report the agency intends to order.

Depending on the design of the channel, he estimated the cost at between $1.2 million and $1.5 million.

Both Cozart and Leo said the immigration service will solicit public comment on the matter, but no public hearings are scheduled.

In some corners, the proposal found favor. San Diego’s congressional delegation, for example, generally supported the ditch concept, although members expressed some questions about details of the plan.

“We have to do something to take control of our own border, and it probably is going to take some kind of physical barrier to do that,” said Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad).

Backers of the ditch say it would serve as an effective deterrent to the stream of vehicles that smuggle Mexican nationals and drugs across the porous Tijuana-San Diego border area, which is considered the most popular crossing area along the 1,900-mile-long international boundary.

Many of those interviewed Wednesday said, however, that physical barriers will not stem the tide. Ingenuity and a desire for a better life, they predicted, will overcome the highest wall and the deepest ditch.

“I don’t care if it’s a river, a lake, a fence or a ditch, these people are going to get across,” said Mirna L. Perez, chairwoman of the San Ysidro Planning and Development Group, representing the community adjacent to the border. “Probably in the beginning, this ditch will cause a little inconvenience. But ultimately, they’d put in ladders or bridges or whatever it took, and they would conquer it.”