Border Patrol Reopens San Clemente Checkpoint

The U.S. Border Patrol reopened its checkpoint along Interstate 5 on Sunday afternoon, entering another phase of a test to determine whether the operation there is effective, an official said.

The checkpoint had been closed for the past six weeks while its agents were redeployed to the border to beef up enforcement there, Assistant Border Patrol Agent Ted Swofford said. The redeployment was part of a test to decide whether the San Clemente checkpoint ought to be permanently kept or closed.

Swofford said motorists going through the reopened Interstate 5 checkpoint, just south of the Orange County line, were not significantly delayed Sunday, waiting a maximum of 15 minutes.

Within a few hours of opening, he said, agents seized 654 pounds of marijuana and arrested an illegal immigrant from Mexico and a legal resident on suspicion of transporting a controlled substance in a U-Haul truck, Swofford said. The illegal immigrant was identified as Jaime Ruiz-Placencia, 24, of Tijuana. The legal resident was not identified.

Swofford said checkpoint agents were glad to end their commute to the San Ysidro border area, but he said some had appreciated the change of pace.

The San Clemente checkpoint is scheduled to remain open until February, when it will be shut down again while its agents are redeployed to the border for about two weeks. After that, Swofford said, a final decision should be made on the status of the San Clemente checkpoint, which has existed since 1924.