City Officials Renew Criticism of Checkpoint After 2 Deaths

SAN CLEMENTE —  Reacting to an immigration crackdown during which a Mexican couple were killed trying to cross the San Diego Freeway, city officials on Monday renewed their criticism of the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint south of the city.

“It’s horrifying when you realize people are getting killed down there,” said City Councilman Brian J. Rice, who has been an outspoken opponent of the immigration checkpoint five miles south of San Clemente. “This is not a rare occurrence. They’re jeopardizing a lot of lives.”

On Saturday, Ruben Calderon, 59, and Josephina Salgado-Uriostegui, 54, were killed just before 9 p.m. about a mile south of the Border Patrol station when they tried to dash on foot across the southbound lanes and were struck by oncoming vehicles.

Robert Grubb, supervising deputy of the San Diego County coroner’s office, said the couple had been on their way to visit their son, Rodolfo Calderon of Santa Ana.

The accident occurred while traffic was backed up for about 10 miles as Border Patrol agents stopped and searched every northbound vehicle for undocumented immigrants, said Tom Kerns, a California Highway Patrol spokesman. It was unclear how the couple got on the freeway.

“All we know is they were seen climbing over the center divider and then were hit,” Kerns said. “They were going from east to west and were hit in the No. 3 lane.”

The fatal mishap, which involved five vehicles, backed up southbound traffic into San Clemente for nearly two hours, according to the CHP. No other deaths or injuries were reported.

Border Patrol agents called off the sweep after the accident. But during three hours of operation, 524 undocumented immigrants and seven alleged smugglers were taken into custody, Supervising Border Patrol Agent Ted Swofford said.

Saturday’s deaths marked the ninth and 10th pedestrians killed this year on the freeway between Oceanside and San Clemente, according to the CHP. Kerns said a total of 13 pedestrians died on the same roadway last year.

Swofford said many undocumented immigrants end up on Interstate 5 when the smuggler who is transporting them decides he cannot get through the checkpoint.

“It’s an unfortunate and a tragic situation,” Swofford said. “The smuggler will tell them to get out and walk past the checkpoint, either on the beach or through the hills, and then promises to pick them up on the other side. But these poor aliens have no idea where they are. They could be in Siberia for all they know.”

San Clemente city officials have repeatedly criticized the location of the checkpoint and have asked that it be moved farther south because of incidents similar to the weekend fatalities. They also are concerned that freeway pursuits involving Border Patrol agents and undocumented aliens have wound up on streets in San Clemente.

“We are terrified that a tragedy will occur here,” Mayor Candace Haggard said. “I have never understood, and I am not talking here as a politician, why the checkpoint is so far north. It just seems to me that it should be closer to the border.”

Haggard has expressed her complaints to Rep. Ronald C. Packard (R-Oceanside), who has promised to look into the matter, she said. David Coggin, a spokesman for Packard in Washington, said a $10-million proposal to move and expand the checkpoint is part of President Bush’s anti-drug package, but it is stalled in the budget process.

“We are very much supportive of this and have been for some time,” Coggin said. “We would like to see this expanded into a full-fledged checkpoint similar to the ones we have at the border. We think it would help alleviate the problem.”