ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Time for Checkpoint Change

Last year, two people suspected of being illegal aliens died and two others were critically injured in a crash in San Clemente while they were being pursued by U.S. Border Patrol agents. At the time, we asked how many more people would be killed and injured before a new and better-designed Border Patrol immigration checkpoint would be built on Interstate 5 in northern San Diego County. Tragically, the answers keep coming in the form of accident statistics instead of federal action.

Officials in San Clemente, whose paramedics respond to medical-aid calls at the existing checkpoint four miles south of the city, say that as many as 10 people died last year in accidents at the checkpoint. Charles Geer, the patrol agent in charge of the checkpoint, says he has no exact statistics, but he estimated that “about eight to 10” people in the past year were killed while running on foot into oncoming traffic.

But pursuit action is not limited to the checkpoint area. To the dismay of San Clemente officials, chases in which Border Patrol agents pursue cars fleeing north from the checkpoint frequently wind up on the streets of their city. Too often such pursuits end in serious crashes. The latest incident occurred last month when 10 people being chased by agents from the checkpoint were injured when they jumped from a van on Interstate 5 in San Clemente. The city’s concern for the safety of its residents is understandable, as is its growing impatience with federal officials.

A new checkpoint has been on the drawing board for years. In the proposed design, off-freeway lanes would be constructed so as to make evasive action harder to take, and a lot of pursuits and needless injuries and deaths would never take place. And its location five miles farther south of San Clemente should help reduce the number of chases reaching the city.

Still, despite the obvious solution to the deadly problem, Congress, for at least three years, has failed to budget money to start getting the new checkpoint built.

The present checkpoint at Camp Pendleton is the busiest in the nation. In addition to helping check the flow of illegal immigration, it also helps control the flow of illegal drugs into the country. Both of those activities have received top federal priority in recent years. But the existing checkpoint was designed in the 1960s and is not adequate to the task. It needs to be remodeled and relocated. That project has the strong support of local officials, the Department of Defense, Sen. Pete Wilson (R-Calif.) and Rep. Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad). It is time it had the backing of Congress too.