INS OKs Site at Pendleton for New Checkpoint

Federal immigration officials have agreed to a compromise location for their proposed new Border Patrol checkpoint on Camp Pendleton, according to a letter released Friday.

The new location at Horno Canyon was accepted after Camp Pendleton officials expressed concern about the first site chosen for the $30-million, 16-lane checkpoint--Interstate 5 at Las Pulgas Road. Horno Canyon is 2.2 miles south of the existing checkpoint.

A checkpoint at Las Pulgas would interfere with aircraft and ground training, base officials told the Immigration and Naturalization Service during the summer. They suggested Horno Canyon instead.

A letter this week from James A. Kennedy, assistant INS commissioner, said the Horno Canyon site would be suitable if the Marine Corps still wanted to proceed with construction there.

“From our point of view, Horno Canyon is just as good as the Las Pulgas Road site, if not better,” said Richard Kenney, a public affairs specialist for the INS in Washington. “We told them we have no problems and will now wait for their response.”

Camp Pendleton officials said Friday that they had not yet received the INS letter, but that the project seems to be on target.

“Barring any new conditions or changes to the proposal, it appears that INS and Camp Pendleton are on the right track to making a new and more convenient border stop a reality,” said Lt. Kevin Bentley, a public affairs officer for the base.

I-5 cuts through the western reaches of sprawling Camp Pendleton, where 36,000 Marines are stationed. Construction of the inspection station is scheduled to begin in 1993.

The INS has been eager to replace the 23-year-old site near San Onofre with an expanded facility, partly because of criticism by San Clemente city officials that high-speed chases from the checkpoint endanger city residents.

The new checkpoint will feature 16 lanes and examiner booths like the ones used at the San Ysidro border checkpoint, INS officials said. “Apparently, drivers will be coming to a full stop,” Bentley said. “That should take care of the concerns they have in San Clemente.”

The Horno Canyon site is 2.7 miles north of Las Pulgas Road, about 1 mile north of a sweeping S-shaped curve where the northbound freeway lanes bank eastward and then northward, officials said.

The Marine Corps has said that the Las Pulgas Road site is near an important underpass used by tanks and combat vehicles to move to and from the beach, and where amphibious landings are often practiced.

Officials have also said that building the 20,000-square-foot inspection point at Las Pulgas would interfere with a Caltrans bicycle path along Old Highway 101 running parallel to I-5, forcing the path onto base training areas.

For years, the checkpoint has been a second defense against illegal immigrants headed north. Border Patrol officials said more than 69,000 illegal immigrants were arrested at the San Onofre checkpoint during the 1991 federal fiscal year that ended last month.