Border Problems Take Center Stage at Special Hearing

Two U.S. congressmen put local and federal law enforcement officials on the hot seat during a special meeting Friday about a vast array of problems occurring along the Mexican border.

U.S. Reps. Jim Bates and Edward Roybal grilled officials from the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Border Patrol, the state National Guard and the San Diego Police Department about issues ranging from border crimes to the so-called Light Up the Border protests of the U.S. immigration policy.

Although no actions or formal recommendations were made during the meeting, Bates said afterward that the issues discussed could resurface later in formal congressional hearings.

Roybal, a Los Angeles Democrat, has been holding meetings in several U.S. border cities, most recently in El Paso, said Bates (D-San Diego).

At Friday’s meeting, Roybal focused much of his attention on the Light Up the Border protests, contending that such displays give San Diego “a bad name.”

In the protests, large groups of residents have gathered near the border and shined their car headlights into Mexico to show their dissatisfaction with the flow of illegal immigrants into the United States from Latin America.

Roybal asked Jerry Sanders, commander of the Police Department’s Border Crime Prevention Unit, how such demonstrations could be legal.

“I don’t know of any other police department that would tolerate something like that,” Roybal said. “It’s hard to believe there’s no violation there.”

Sanders assured Roybal that the protesters had never obstructed traffic on city streets or violated noise ordinances during the gatherings.

Roybal also grilled Ted Swofford, a spokesman for the Border Patrol, about several shootings allegedly involving Border Patrol agents.

Earlier in the meeting, Bates and Roybal listened to testimony from several U.S. and Mexican citizens who claimed to have had run-ins with immigration officers at the border. Jesus Ontiveros, a Mexican with legal alien status, said he had been beaten by an immigration officer Thursday during a border stop.

Ontiveros said the officer attacked him after questioning about a missing front license plate on his car.

Other border travelers complained of other offenses allegedly committed by immigration officers, ranging from disrespect and insults to improper arrests and beatings.