‘Gatekeeper’ Test Again Will Close I-5 Checkpoint

The controversial Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 5 seven miles south of here will again close temporarily as part of an ongoing evaluation of its need, an agency spokeswoman said Monday.

Ann Summers, a Border Patrol supervisor, said the 71-year-old checkpoint will close “sometime in late February” and its 80 agents will be transferred to the California-Mexico border for about six weeks, in time for the anticipated seasonal surge in illegal immigrant crossings.

The temporary closure of the checkpoint, the second in the past five months, is part of Operation Gatekeeper, a 2-year-old crackdown on illegal immigration ordered by the Clinton Administration, Summers said.

Operation Gatekeeper calls for 200 more agents in the San Diego area by the year’s end, as well as improved technology to aid the officers staffing the border, the busiest land port of entry in the United States.

“What we want to find is the right mix of agents, equipment and technology to actually close the border here,” said Summers, who is based in San Diego. “Part of that is an evaluation of our checkpoints. . . . This is a test of what additional manpower can do for us down here, as opposed to having them up there (at the checkpoint).”

In recent years, San Clemente city officials, fearing high-speed chases through their city, have urged the Border Patrol to concentrate its operations at the international border rather than at inland checkpoints.

Such chases can place citizens at risk or cause tragic accidents, such as the 1992 crash that killed six people in Temecula, San Clemente Mayor Candace Haggard said.

“The danger exists,” Haggard said. “We all look back to that terrible tragedy in Temecula a couple of years ago. It’s that perceived threat that we are concerned about.”

During the first stage of the test, the checkpoint was closed last Oct. 1 through mid-November and its agents deployed along the border, Summers said.

“Right now is the busiest time of year for us,” Summers said. “It normally starts in mid-January and last through April, which is traditionally our busiest month.”

Summers said a number of factors cause the cycle of illegal immigration, including the holidays and agricultural seasons. Starting in June, immigration tends to slow down and stays slow until January, she said.

Overall, illegal immigration seems to have been decreasing in the past few years, according to statistics from the border and the checkpoints, Summers said. Since last October, the San Diego sector has seen a 25% drop in apprehensions of illegal immigrants, Summers said.

But the checkpoints are also important tools against drug smuggling, officials say.

Summers said the San Clemente checkpoint is the busiest of three inland checkpoints in the San Diego area, with about 122,000 cars passing through daily. The other two checkpoints will remain open.