Agencies Offer Conflicting Versions of Border Ditch Plan

Immigration officials insisted Wednesday that a 4 1/2-mile-long ditch planned for the U. S.-Mexico border along Otay Mesa is merely one of several proposals being studied to stem the flow of illegal immigration and drug trafficking, but a Border Patrol official said the channel could be dug before the end of the year.

Federal officials, stung by mounting public opposition to the project, said they have gained support from the Mexican government for the ditch because it will also serve as a drainage channel along the border. But spokesmen for federal agencies gave contradictory answers Wednesday when asked about plans for the ditch.

A Border Patrol official in San Diego said the ditch will probably begin about half a mile east of the Otay Mesa Port of Entry and continue for about 4 miles west, between the Otay Mesa and San Ysidro ports of entry. The channel will be about 15 feet wide and 5 feet deep, the official said.

‘A Little Premature’

Immigration and Naturalization Service spokesman Greg Leo in Washington said the ditch is one of several alternatives being studied to stop smugglers who cross the border at Otay Mesa--a relatively flat area--bringing illegal aliens and drugs into the United States. The idea that a ditch will be dug at the border “is a little premature,” Leo said.

Other possibilities being studied, he said, were erecting a new fence and placing concrete barriers similar to freeway median strips along the border.

But, at a San Diego press conference, Border Patrol Chief Agent Dale Cozart said that the ditch could be in place by the end of the year, following an environmental impact report that the agency plans to order. Depending on the design of the channel, he estimated the cost at $1.2 million to $1.5 million. Cozart said officials have not decided whether to pave the channel or not.

Both Cozart and Leo said the INS will solicit public comments on the matter, but no public hearings are scheduled.

Born in San Diego Sector

Cozart said the idea for the ditch originated in the San Diego Border Patrol sector. At first, the channel was intended to stop smugglers who drive vehicles across the border, through passable fields, to Interstate 905, less than a mile from Mexico. Cozart said “illegal vehicular entries” occur throughout the day and night.

According to Border Patrol statistics, 1,555 vehicles have crossed the border illegally through Otay Mesa since July. “We’re dealing with a segment of the international border (that) is now and has been virtually passable by vehicles at will. . . . This is a totally unacceptable situation,” Cozart said.

He had no figures available on how many of those vehicles successfully evaded the Border Patrol.

Once across the border, the smugglers try to evade police vehicles at all cost and present a danger to U. S. drivers and the the aliens they are often bringing north, Cozart said.

Mexico Filed Protest

But, after discussing the ditch with officials from the International Boundary and Water Commission, the Border Patrol learned that the Mexican government had filed a formal protest with U. S. officials over “a drainage problem” east of the Otay Mesa port of entry, Cozart said.

At this point, U. S. officials decided to join “two concerns” to try to “set up a physical impediment to try to keep people from crossing the border and respond to the Mexican government’s complaint about bad drainage,” said the INS’ Leo. He added that U. S. and Mexican government officials have informally discussed building the ditch “for a number of years.”

A spokesman for the Mexican Embassy in Washington said he was unaware of any talks between his government and U. S. officials about the ditch. Hermilo Lopez Bassols, Mexican consul in San Diego, said Cozart discussed the idea with him a long time ago, but he thought that it had been “discontinued.” Lopez said that it is “premature to comment further.”

Despite Border Patrol arguments that the ditch would stem vehicles from bringing illegal aliens and drugs across the border at Otay Mesa, Cozart warned that “this is no panacea for all the drive-through situations. There is no doubt that there will be penetration.” But the number of illegal drive-throughs would be reduced dramatically, Cozart predicted.

Border Patrol officials said the ditch would supplement the infrared and seismic sensors already used along the border.