2 More Killed Near Freeway Checkpoint

Shortly before midnight on Christmas Eve, a 37-year-old Mexican woman and her teen-age companion were struck by vehicles and killed along Interstate 5 north of here as they tried to cross the busy freeway, authorities said.

Both were presumed to have been illegal aliens attempting to evade inspection at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint at San Onofre, in northern San Diego County just south of the Orange County line. Their deaths raised to 15 the number of immigrant pedestrians killed on the freeway this year, exceeding last year’s record of 14, authorities said.

Since 1987, according to the California Highway Patrol, at least 65 northbound immigrants en route to the Los Angeles area and beyond have been hit--40 of them killed--while attempting to hike around the busy checkpoint. The trek is a hazardous undertaking that often involves two crossings of eight lanes of high-speed traffic in a poorly lighted area where few motorists expect to see pedestrians.

The ongoing carnage has prompted California transportation authorities to post warning signs, caution lights and take other measures aimed at alerting motorists and pedestrians to the danger. But the injuries and deaths keep on mounting.

Just last week, the California Department of Transportation announced that it planned to erect a $10-million, 8-mile-long chain-link fence in the freeway median--the most dramatic step to date aimed at reducing the bloodshed. But the fence plan itself has engendered intense opposition, as many immigrant advocates fear that the planned barrier could actually increase the human toll by leaving helpless immigrant pedestrians trapped in the middle of the busy roadway.

The two latest victims, both believed to be Mexican citizens, were struck by a southbound sedan at 11:54 p.m. Christmas Eve, according to the CHP. One died at the scene while the other succumbed three hours later at an Orange County hospital, authorities said. They were both struck at a site along Interstate 5 about 2 miles north of the Las Pulgas Road exit, officials said.

CHP officials say the driver, identified as Gretchen Carter, 21, of San Diego, had no chance to stop and was not at fault. She was driving her 1976 Oldsmobile sedan at about 55 m.p.h. in the far right southbound lane, authorities said, and did not see the victims until it was too late. The driver was uninjured, officials said, although her car was badly damaged and had to be towed away.

In addition to the 15 deaths this year, at least nine others have been hit since January and survived, authorities say, cementing 1990’s ignominious status as the bloodiest to date for immigrant pedestrians in the area.

The San Diego County medical examiner’s office identified one victim as Elva Valdes Lopez, 37, of the Mexican state of Michoacan. She was dead at the scene.

The second victim, a woman who was believed to have been a teen-ager, was taken by paramedics to Mission Hospital Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo. She was pronounced dead there at 2:45 a.m., according to William King, a deputy Orange County coroner.

There was no definitive identification of the other woman, King said. But the San Diego County medical examiner’s office tentatively identified the dead girl as Del Carmen Valdez Hidalgo, 15, also of the Mexican state of Michoacan.

Birth certificates were found among the victims’ belongings, King said, a fact that may facilitate definitive identification. Often, illegal aliens carry little or no identifying paperwork; some pedestrian victims have never been identified.

It was not known if the two women were related, coroner’s officials said. They, like other past victims, were presumed to be headed to reunions with family members or friends in the Los Angeles area or elsewhere.

Both bodies will remain in county morgues until claimed by relatives, authorities aid. As of late Christmas Day, no family members had inquired about the two, officials said. The Mexican consulate in San Diego will be enlisted to assist in the search for relatives.

“We have no ideas who their families are,” said William Leard, deputy San Diego County coroner. “We just put the names out and hope that someone comes forward.”

San Diego County is a major migratory corridor for illegal aliens arriving from Mexico. Area freeways are often used by northbound immigrants, who frequently travel on foot or are dropped off along the freeway by smugglers driving vehicles.

The portion of Interstate 5 near the Border Patrol checkpoint is one of two major problem areas involving immigrant pedestrians in the San Diego area. The other--and more hazardous--danger zone for immigrant pedestrians is near the actual U.S.-Mexico boundary strip, about 75 miles south of the checkpoint. There, officials say that at least 158 immigrant pedestrians have been struck since 1987, including 87 who died.