INS Draws Criticism for Decision to Keep Checkpoints

Immigration and Naturalization Service Commissioner Doris Meissner’s announcement Friday that border checkpoints in San Clemente and Temecula will remain open drew harsh criticism from local officials.

Standing amid the traffic roar at the San Ysidro border crossing, Meissner announced the second phase of a major effort to thwart illegal immigration, which includes maintaining the San Clemente checkpoint along Interstate 5 and the Temecula checkpoint along Interstate 15, the hiring of 45 more agents and 25 more inspectors, a crackdown on phony documents and new sensor equipment.

The announcement sparked anger among those who insist the checkpoints do more harm than good.

San Clemente Councilman Steve Apodaca, the first Latino ever elected to the council, said, “We don’t need a checkpoint 60 miles north of the border.”

He added: “Although the checkpoint has been successful in stopping other types of crimes, like drug smuggling, the same thing can be accomplished if we directed those efforts further south. Someday we hope the INS gets the message.”

Rep. Ron Packard (R-Oceanside), whose sprawling district includes the two checkpoints, urged Meissner to close the checkpoints and transfer the agents to the border.

His constituents in northern San Diego County say the checkpoints only block illegal immigrants from going to Los Angeles, diverting them instead to the canyons and fields of coastal and inland cities, where agents rarely venture.

“If the border does not stop people from crossing illegally, then let’s use our scarce resources to shore it up to the point where the border does the job it is intended to do,” Packard said.

Meissner tried to assuage critics by promising that steps will be taken to make sure the wait at San Clemente’s checkpoint never exceeds 15 minutes. This may be done, she said, by using four lanes rather than two.

She and other officials also said the checkpoints are useful because they force illegal immigrants to use “drop houses” while they wait to continue their trek to Los Angeles.

So far, 53 drop houses have been raided, 2,500 migrants apprehended and 69 smugglers arrested as part of Operation Gatekeeper, officials said.

But San Clemente Councilman Scott Diehl said the checkpoints are dangerous.

“Right now you have a guy standing in the middle of the freeway trying to stop cars, and a lot of these cars are making a break for the north,” Diehl said. “Ultimately, I think that they could do a better job at the border and not have the need for the stations at Temecula and San Clemente.”

Dr. Thomas Shaver, director of trauma services at Mission Regional Medical Center in Mission Viejo, agreed. Over the years, Shaver has seen firsthand in emergency rooms the result when illegal immigrants try to cross the freeway on foot to evade INS agents.

“By having a major stopping place on the freeway, it places people at risk,” Shaver said.

“The major influx of illegal immigrants is at the border. It would seem that’s the place to apprehend them,” Shaver said.

For eight months, the INS has deployed extra agents to stop illegal immigrants from crossing into the United States through the heavily traveled routes west of San Ysidro. Not surprisingly, immigrants and smugglers have moved eastward, and Friday’s announcement represented the second phase of a major INS offensive, dubbed Operation Gatekeeper.

“We are going to strengthen our front line of resistance against illegal immigration at the ports of entry, at the checkpoints, in East [San Diego] County, and where smugglers are attempting to profit from the border,” Meissner said.

Meissner’s announcement brought praise from the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a Washington-based group that has called for tighter enforcement of immigration laws.

But Roberto Lovato, executive director of the Central America Resource Center in Los Angeles, called Meissner’s announcement “just a lot of money that will be wasted.”

“People will find new ways to get through holes in the fence and around the barriers along this 1,000-mile border,” Lovato said.

Border Patrol officials reported that Gatekeeper has driven up the price that smugglers charge illegal immigrants to guide them across the border, from $300 to $700 and higher, because the journey is more arduous and less predictable.

Times correspondent Julie Sullivan contributed to this story