State Considers Freeway Fence Near Border : Safety: Caltrans may erect barrier along median of Interstate 5 to discourage illegal immigrants from gathering along roadway.

Alarmed by the daily spectacle of scores of illegal immigrants massed along the median of Interstate 5, California Department of Transportation officials said Friday they will consider constructing a chain-link fence in the median zone near the U.S.-Mexico border.

However, Caltrans authorities say they plan to keep up to four lanes of traffic along I-5 just north of the border closed to vehicles--a shutdown that U.S. immigration officials say has lured additional immigrants and smugglers to the greatly widened median.

The lanes were closed this month as part of a six-month experiment designed to reduce accidents along a swath of I-5 where scores of immigrants on foot have been run down and killed in recent years.

“We’re going to continue the experiment with the lanes,” Jesus Garcia, Caltrans district director in San Diego, said after a discussion with Gustavo de la Vina, chief U.S. Border Patrol agent in San Diego, and other law enforcement authorities.

Garcia said there is no schedule for deciding to build the fence. The Border Patrol has long sought the erection of a fence that, De la Vina says, would deter people from walking on the freeway by cutting access to the other side.

“It (the fence) is something we may be willing to try in order to save lives,” said Garcia, who added that there is no estimate about how much the fence would cost.

Critics have expressed fears that such a structure would be ineffective and could actually increase risks by trapping frightened pedestrians in the median. Immigrant advocates are expected to strenuously object to any such plan.

Despite the buildup of immigrants along the I-5 median, De la Vina said Friday that the Border Patrol has no plans to reverse its policy of refraining from making arrests on the freeway median and shoulders. The risk of making apprehensions there is too great for immigrants, motorists and agents, the Border Patrol chief said.

Instead, De la Vina said agents plan to coordinate operations in which the border-area freeway will intermittently be closed and traffic rerouted while lawmen conducted sweeps, arresting border-jumpers and smugglers.

Since the lanes along I-5 were closed three weeks ago, Border Patrol officials say, the number of immigrants massing on the median has more than tripled. Groups of 20 or more in the center strip are commonplace. Smugglers have long gravitated to the area, recognizing that they will not be arrested.

Last year, Caltrans said, it had agreed to build a fence along a 7-mile swath of I-5 near the Border Patrol checkpoint north of Oceanside. Several dozen immigrants have been struck and killed there in recent years while attempting to walk around the checkpoint.

But accidents have been reduced near the checkpoint. There have been no fatal accidents so far this year, a fact that authorities attribute to increased safety initiatives, notably the posting of warning lights and signs alerting motorists of the dangers.

Now, Caltrans officials say they are considering shelving the fence proposal for North San Diego County and may instead build one near the border.