Change in Tactics Casts the Border in a New Light : Immigration: Illumination follows failed plans for ditch, more staffing. Rights advocates see no problem with the lights.

With alternative strategies thwarted, U.S. immigration authorities have resorted to a novel and remarkably non-controversial tactic along the international boundary in San Diego.

They have installed high-powered lights and illuminated a key swath of the border. Installation of the lights follows failed bids to build a controversial ditch along the border and to hire additional Border Patrol agents.

The lights have transformed the once-dark and sinister nights along the border.

The purpose of the lights is twofold, according to the U.S. Border Patrol. One is to make it safer for both its agents and for the hundreds of undocumented people who attempt to cross the border under the cover of darkness each evening. The other purpose is to make it easier to catch illicit border crossers.

The lights have proved a success on both counts, officials said. Nevertheless, authorities acknowledge that the lights probably haven’t reduced the number of people attempting to illegally enter the United States. What the lights have done is shift the massive flow of border crossers to other, still dark sites, mostly in the hills to the west.

That shift underlines how the human traffic along the border, driven by economic, social and political factors, responds to enforcement tactics.

“People will cross wherever it is easiest,” noted Victor Clark Alfaro, who runs a Tijuana human rights office. “The lights aren’t going to stop anyone; its just making them go a different way.”

Unlike other strategies, such as the proposed border ditch and a planned doubling of agents, the lights have not drawn criticism, and have even been welcomed by some of those usually opposed to immigration enforcement policies at the border. Migrants and their advocates agree that the floodlights, installed along the northern bank of the Tijuana River channel, a principal clandestine crossing zone, have made the notoriously dangerous strip safer.

Since the area has been illuminated, some of the bandits who have long preyed on the migrants under the cover of darkness have abandoned the strip.

“This might have a positive impact on the protection of the immigrants,” said Jorge Bustamante, director of the College of the Northern Border, a Tijuana research institution, who is often a critic of U.S. immigration policies.

Added Roberto Martinez, a rights activist in San Diego who is also a frequent detractor of patrol tactics: “In terms of safety, (the lights) could help a lot.”

On a recent rainy evening, waiting immigrants lined up on the southern levee of the Tijuana River applauded the new lights because of the perceived increase in safety. Facing the glaring lamps that illuminated the broad river channel, the hopeful border crossers agreed that perhaps it was more difficult to cross now. But few doubted that they would ultimately arrive where they are going.

“It makes it harder for us, but it’s also harder for the bajadores (thieves),” said Jose Favela Romero, a 23-year-old Mexican en route to Chicago with his 3-year-old son, Roberto, both of whom were wrapped up in frayed plastic bags as protection from the rain and cold. “We’re all going to make it anyway.”

Unlike the ill-fated border ditch proposal, which caused a firestorm of criticism, the lights were quietly installed in September with little fanfare and limited expense. The stadium-type illumination has been in place since then along a 1 1/4-mile strip of the Tijuana River channel, which is considered the most concentrated crossing zone along the entire U.S.-Mexico border, as well as the most dangerous.

Border Patrol officials have praised the lights’ effectiveness in creating a safer environment, although visiting the area is still a far cry from attending a night game at San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium. The number of rock-throwers pelting agents in the river zone has declined considerably since the lamps were installed, said Ted A. Swofford, supervisory Border Patrol agent who is the patrol’s spokesman in San Diego.

However, Swofford agreed that there was little evidence to suggest that the lights had reduced the flow of people across the border, but had rather shifted where they crossed. In December, with the lights in place, arrests in the river zone and throughout the San Diego area increased by almost 50%, compared with December, 1988.

However, the huge crowds along the south levee, which sometimes approached 1,000 or more in past months, appear to have been dispersed in groups of several hundred or fewer, Swofford said.

U.S. officials said this makes their job easier, limiting situations in which hundreds of people may converge toward several agents. Moreover, U.S. authorities say that moving the undocumented traffic to the west or east works to the advantage of patrol agents, as the immigrants have to travel longer distances before filtering into the more populated areas of San Diego, where cover is ample and detection is more difficult.

“The size of the crowds gathering now are much more manageable,” said Swofford, who recently patrolled the newly lighted river zone to judge how it had changed.

“I personally felt much safer. There are fewer surprises. You can tell how many people you are dealing with.”

Assaults and other crimes, however, continue to plague the border zone. On Dec. 7, two San Diego policemen shot a 17-year-old Mexican youth in the lighted river area, paralyzing him from the waist down. Police say the youth, Manuel Martin Flores Campos, was a suspected robber who threatened officers. His lawyers and rights advocates say he was an unarmed and frightened teen-ager who was running away at the time he was shot.

The lights, nevertheless, have been effective enough that officials are looking at the possibility of placing them at other spots along the border. At a time when budget constraints appear to make large manpower increases unlikely, INS Commisioner Gene McNary has stressed the use of new equipment, such as lights, night-vision scopes and aircraft.

One of the Border Patrol’s most modern weapons can sometimes be seen under the glare of the lights. It is the Hummer, a highly maneuverable four-wheel-drive vehicle on loan from the military. It was put into service last year and three of the vehicles have been posted in the river channel area.

The lighting has also galvanized a citizens group in San Diego, which has called for the posting of lamps along the entire border. The group’s leader, Muriel Watson, said the lights should be placed “all the way to Brownsville,” at the Gulf of Mexico in Texas.

“Why should we allow smugglers and others the privilege of doing these nasty deeds under the cover of darkness?” asked Watson, widow of a Border Patrol officer.

The lighting idea had been around for many years, officials said, but new types of lights available at a reasonable cost have only recently made the idea feasible. The lamps installed so far have been temporary, but officials say they are likely to be made permanent.

The 20-foot-high metal floodlights are mounted on portable, diesel-burning generators and placed at intervals of about 500 feet along the river’s northern levee and along the northern banks of the broad river channel, now a muddy quagmire because of recent rains. The patrol has 12 light stands; 8 are rented and 4 others were donated by the military. The bulbs, ranging from 1,000 to 1,500 watts, are turned on from dawn to dusk, imparting a surreal quality to the already-eerie river zone.

Officials say cost and maintenance of the lights has been minimal. Rented lights cost about $1,000 a month; the 40 bulbs in use cost $40 apiece and last a year. Vandalism isn’t a problem, although officials anticipate future difficulties. The recent rain has made it difficult for Border Patrol agents to reach and refuel the generators.

The lamps have influenced the border dynamic, increasing the movement of large groups of people who nightly head westward seeking alternate entry areas where there are fewer enforcement agents--and no illumination. Many of the vendors who make a living off the traffic have switched locations, following their clients.

“I have to walk farther and work harder,” said Antonio Espinoza, a 35-year-old who was selling cups of hot chocolate from an insulated container on a recent evening.

After stopping for a chat, Espinoza moved on to the west, in the dark, where potential customers waited.

NEW BORDER LIGHTS

The U.S. Border Patrol is using portable stadium-style lights to illuminate a popular border crossing for illegal immigrants.