At border, uptick in illegal crossings

In all 24 lanes of traffic stopped at the spot where Mexico meets America, idling cars stretch back toward Tijuana as far as the eye can see. The wait is at least an hour to reach the checkpoint and undergo inspection - a new reality of the US security crackdown.

But that's a big improvement over the three hours it took to enter the US in the days and weeks immediately following Sept. 11 - except for one thing. As the delay here gets shorter, the number of illegal immigrants attempting to sneak into the US - inside the trunks of cars, strapped under seats, and even soldered inside wheel wells - is beginning to tick upward again.

Illegal crossings here at the San Diego checkpoint, which plummeted from about 900 to 170 a week after the terrorist attacks, have not climbed back to pre-Sept. 11 levels. But apprehensions are unmistakably on the rise in recent weeks, an indication, perhaps, that not even one of the tightest border clampdowns in US history seems to be able to permanently stem illegal immigration from south of the border.

There are a number of reasons for the increase. A temporary infusion of 20 additional Border Patrol agents - deployed here from other assignments after Sept. 11 - ended two weeks ago. Then, too, the holiday season is over, and more people south of the border are again trying to go north in search of work. Finally, in a never-ending game of "the weakest link," this checkpoint currently seems to be high on the list of those who trade in human smuggling.

"They are always testing us, scoping us out, trying to overwhelm our weakest point," says William Veal, chief of the US Border Patrol's San Diego sector, a 66-mile swath of the border where, traditionally, more than half of all illegal immigrants gain entry to the United States.

That's not to say the border is a wide-open sieve. In fact, it's much tighter than it was eight years ago, before the US government began "Operation Gatekeeper." Since then, there's been an 80 percent drop in apprehensions here (from more than 500,000 a year to about 100,000) - an indication that fewer would-be immigrants were making the northward trek.

Although Operation Gatekeeper has almost shut off the tide of illegal immigrants who swamped these neighborhoods for years, the migrant flow has spread east along the less-populated desert. It is also being funneled through the legal front door - hidden from border inspectors in gas tanks, under floorboards, and literally welded into dashboards.

"Prior to 9/11, the smugglers were overwhelming us [at the checkpoint], targeting us with sheer volume," says Lauren Mack, spokeswoman for the San Diego sector. Her office displays photos of immigrants sewn into the upholstery of seats, or tied to engine blocks. "With the added attention of 9/11, we have been able to virtually shut them down," she says, "but we don't know how long that can last without additional manpower and technology."

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