California IN BRIEF : SAN DIEGO : New Lights Set Up on Mexican Border

Sixteen permanent, high-intensity lights have been installed along the Tia Juana River levee to provide more protection for U.S. Border Patrol agents and illegal aliens. They also will help agents find and arrest undocumented aliens, who often are attacked in the rugged area which is a popular spot for illegal entry into the United States, officials said. The new lights, which were turned on for the first time Wednesday, are 30 to 40 feet taller and more powerful than the 12 portable lights installed last fall, said Border Patrol spokesman Ted Swofford. Fifteen of them contain a dozen 1,000-watt bulbs. The other has 30 bulbs of similar wattage, he said. Figures from the Immigration and Naturalization Service show that 215,855 undocumented aliens have been apprehended since October in the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, which includes Imperial County.