CALIFORNIA IN BRIEF : SAN DIEGO : Road Project Started Near Mexico Border

The California National Guard, in the latest of a series of drug-interdiction efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border, has launched a $1.2-million project to improve the unpaved roads north of the international boundary in San Diego. The project is expected to help the U.S. Border Patrol stem the flow of illicit drugs into the United States. Border Patrol officials acknowledge that agents also will use the roads to stem illegal immigration, the patrol’s primary responsibility. The move has drawn complaints from some immigrant rights groups about what they perceive as increasing “militarization” of the border.