Effort to Reinforce Border Creates Divide
SAN DIEGO — On the southwestern-most tip of the country, just across the border from Tijuana, rugged canyons drop down to a rich Pacific estuary, where millions have been spent restoring fresh and saltwater marshes that sustain the California brown pelican and other rare birds and plants.
But this landscape also represents a gaping hole in the nation's defenses against terrorists, drug traffickers and other criminals, federal officials say.
At some points, a worn-out border fence teeters atop cliffs. In at least one spot along the sloping side of a canyon, erosion has buried so much of the fence that migrants and other travelers can step over it. Near the wind-swept shoreline of Border Field State Park, the 10-foot-tall steel panels that make up the fence are pocked with holes.
The Bush administration proposes closing off this final 3.5-mile stretch of border between the United States and Mexico by moving massive amounts of dirt from nearby mesas into canyons to create a long earthen berm. On the berm, parallel to the existing border fence, a second fence and a patrol road would be constructed.
Environmentalists say a project of that size would create an ecological disaster.
In recent years, more than 10 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border along the San Diego County line have been fortified. But objections from the California Coastal Commission and local environmental groups have stymied efforts to finish the last few miles from Otay Mesa to the Pacific.
That soon could change.
Last week, Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-Wis.) introduced immigration legislation calling for the border fence's completion.
Members of the Coastal Commission said they did not want to stop the federal government from bolstering border security, but rather believed the government could downscale the project and protect the natural setting and wildlife habitat without sacrificing security.
So far, efforts to reach a compromise have failed. That reflects, at least in part, a widening chasm between conservatives in Congress and the administration who favor a no-holds-barred approach to beefing up national security, and environmentalists and immigration advocates who argue that security should be achieved without sacrificing other values.
"There's a compelling security reason" to complete the fence project, said Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-El Cajon), who has championed the project for more than a decade.
