Ditch to Begin, INS Leader Says : Mexican Consul Compares Project to the Berlin Wall

The U. S. government plans to start building a controversial ditch at the border near San Diego within 60 days, U. S. immigration Commissioner Alan C. Nelson disclosed Friday, insisting that Mexico should not consider the action “a hostile act.”

But the Mexican consul general in Los Angeles, Romeo Flores Caballero, interrupted Nelson as he was announcing his plans to reporters and told him pointedly: “You should be building bridges, not ditches.” Nelson smiled and said hello.

Later, speaking to reporters, Flores compared the ditch to the Berlin Wall and called the U. S. government’s action “narrow-minded.” He added, “It is not really promoting better relations between the two countries.”

Nelson’s statement Friday was the most definitive by any top-ranking U. S. official that the government has firmly decided to move ahead with the project despite the backlash it has stirred.

Surprise to San Diegans

In San Diego, however, where the ditch is to be built, the revelation that its construction was imminent came as a surprise, both to local officials and to officers of the U. S. Border Patrol. Area lawmakers have not been extensively notified about the progress of the project, even though it is to be built on land owned in part by the city of San Diego.

“I am not aware of any existing agreement between the city of San Diego and the INS,” said Deputy City Atty. Ted Bromfield. “If city land is involved, it would require the consent and cooperation of the city.”

Deputy City Manager Severo Esquivel cast doubt on a 60-day timetable for beginning construction, saying that winning approval from the city manager’s office and the San Diego City Council for use of the land would take “certainly months, possibly years.”

“We haven’t heard anything about it,” added Doug Byrns, an aide to Mayor Maureen O’Connor. “We’re surprised, obviously surprised.”

A spokesman for San Diego County Supervisor Brian Bilbray, who represents the border area, said he had heard nothing about construction beginning within two months. The supervisor was contemplating requesting that the federal government hold a public hearing on the project, the spokesman said. It was unclear whether such a hearing is required in the case of the ditch.

Governors’ Conference

Nelson and Flores were attending sessions of the annual conference of border state governors from the United States and Mexico. Gov. George Deukmejian was a co-chairman of the meeting.

The governors went on record as recommending that the U. S. and Mexican governments:

- Try to substantially reduce Mexico’s $105-billion foreign debt.

- Urge that public and private entities try to modernize outmoded highways, rail lines and telephones in Northern Mexico.

- Support expansion of maquiladora industries that use plants on both sides of the border to take advantage of cheap Mexican labor.

-Modernize border stations to end logjams.

Most of the governors sidestepped the issue of the ditch-- la zanja --although Texas Gov. William P. Clements, joining Flores, called for “building bridges, not ditches.”

Deukmejian has repeatedly been pestered by Mexican reporters about the ditch during his five-day trip. He has pleaded little knowledge of the project. At a press conference of the governors Friday, Deukmejian cautioned, “It is premature to conclude what the final decision (on construction) will be.”

On one point Wednesday, however, he asserted, “It’s important all countries have the opportunity to control their own borders.”

Nelson, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, was eager Friday to explain the U. S. government’s side of the project to reporters and government officials, especially those from Mexico.

$2-Million Cost

The ditch, which Nelson estimated will cost $2 million, is planned for the flat Otay Mesa between canyons on the west and foothills to the east. It would be roughly 4 miles long, 5 feet deep and 14 feet wide at the top, sloping at a 45-degree angle to 6 feet at the bottom. Nelson said plans call for the ditch to be built only with dirt, although some officials have suggested it be reinforced with concrete.

“Just a plain old vanilla ditch,” Nelson insisted.

In Washington, officials said the project is still on track. “An environmental impact study is taking place,” said Duke Austin, spokesman for the INS, “and we expect that to be completed by April. That will determine how quickly we proceed.”

A Justice Department official said the ditch will be constructed by a labor force contracted by the International Boundary and Water Commission, a committee of U. S. and Mexican officials. The commission has been involved in the planning of the project.

The federal government will finance the project.

The ditch’s purpose, Nelson and other U. S. government officials have maintained, is twofold: first, to divert runoff water that has been flowing into Mexico and, second, to block the hundreds of vehicles that each month carry drugs and other smuggled contraband into California.

Many thousands of immigrants also illegally cross the border there on foot, but U. S. officials say the ditch is not aimed at stopping them.

The Mexican government has protested the ditch through its foreign ministry, and the proposal has been denounced in Mexico’s congress. Flores charged that the concept of diverting water “was contaminated politically.”

Nelson, although disputing accusations that Mexico was not consulted about the project, nevertheless said:

“We obviously don’t ask Mexico’s permission to build a ditch on our side to stop vehicles. . . . It’s on the U. S. side--obviously, we have the right to do things, just as they do on their side.”

Environmental Report

Nelson said his “best estimate” is that the ditch digging can begin within 60 days and be completed by the end of summer. “Now, the only issue is the environmental review. . . .”

The project was approved by Atty. Gen. Richard L. Thornburgh last month and money is available, Nelson said.

But “nothing’s definite in the world,” Nelson added, conceding that the project could still be derailed by opposition. “But, as far as we’re concerned, the idea is reasonable. . . .

“On the open tableland of the Otay Mesa you have serious problems with drive-throughs. There are injuries, deaths, smuggling of aliens, drugs that we feel could be stopped by this very simple ditch, along with the (water) drainage. . . .

“There’s no reason at all that the Mexican government or people or press ought to look at this as a hostile act. I mean, the Mexicans didn’t like the (1986) U. S. immigration law. They said, ‘Gee, how can you have employer sanctions?’ ”

He added that there already are man-made barriers along the border, including fences, culverts and canals.

‘Sensitive Issues’

But Flores wasn’t buying any of it. “These are sensitive issues,” he said.

Flores said he could “not conceive of the country that is fighting to destroy the walls of the world building one exactly to stop the flow of people from other parts of the Earth.”

“We’re fighting all over for freedom,” he continued, “and we have made a big issue out of the wall in Berlin. And now you want to build a wall like that.”

U. S. Ambassador Charles Pilliod, in an address to the governors, defended what he called “the much-maligned ditch.”

Seemingly contradicting the immigration service commissioner, Pilliod said: “This project has just two purposes, one is drainage and the other is public safety. No one in the U. S. government believes the ditch will have any significant impact on the overall number of illegal entries into the United States. And, with regard to drug traffic, it is essentially irrelevant.”

Times staff writers Leonard Bernstein in San Diego and Lee May in Washington contributed to this report.