Border Patrol Makes First of I-5 Sweeps for Illegals

Federal immigration authorities have begun what will be occasional closings of a three-mile stretch of Interstate 5 near the U.S.-Mexico border in an effort to sweep the freeway corridor for illegal aliens and to cut down on the number of undocumented pedestrians struck by vehicles, officials say.

The first shutdowns and sweeps occurred Friday and Saturday evenings, resulting in the quick arrests of 334 undocumented foreigners--including 213 apprehended Saturday, said Ted A. Swofford, a U.S. Border Patrol spokesman in San Diego.

The numbers attest to the high volume of undocumented people who gather along the freeway each day, often waiting for rides to the north provided by area smugglers who wait near the road.

The Border Patrol will repeat the operation in coming months, Swofford said, but manpower limitations make it impossible to launch such sweeps every day, he said.

“We think it was a success; we were able to apprehend a lot of people and we were able to identify some of the smugglers,” said Swofford, who explained that the weekend was targeted because it is traditionally a high-volume period for illicit border crossings.

Following the sweeps, Swofford acknowledged, undocumented people quickly returned to the freeway median and to areas along the highway where they have long congregated.

Motorists driving along border-area roads are often startled to see groups of pedestrians--including women and children, the young and the old--negotiating the area’s high-speed roadways, particularly I-5. The grid of highways that converge at the border form imposing and hazardous barriers for the hundreds of illicit crossers who enter the United States from Tijuana each day.

In 1990, vehicles on border-area highways in San Diego have struck and killed 13 undocumented pedestrians, said a spokesman for the California Highway Patrol. There were 28 such deaths in 1988 and 24 in 1989. Many other people have been injured, often by hit-and-run drivers.

In recent years, state highway officials have added lighting in the area, repaired fences, trimmed roadside brush that provides cover and installed flashing warning signals advising motorists to be alert for pedestrians. But the problems have continued.

The Border Patrol operation was launched Friday evening with assistance from the CHP and the San Diego Police Department. Highway officials closed the approximately three-mile stretch of I-5--from the off-ramps leading to I-805 in the south to the junction of California 905 in the north. City police, meanwhile, directed traffic away from the affected entrance ramps.

During the operation, traffic was diverted onto I-805, which parallels I-5 on its north-south route. California 905 was used as an east-west connector for the detour. The diversion lasted 18 minutes Saturday evening and 30 minutes Friday.