Crossing the border illegally just got easier thanks to new guide ropes along the canal

A nearly decade-long fight by John Hunter of Escondido to install safety lines along the All-American Canal to keep illegal immigrants from drowning is coming to an end.

The Imperial Irrigation District, which is responsible for the waterway in Imperial Valley near the U.S. border with Mexico, began installing the safety rope last month, and the work is expected to be completed early next year, Kevin Kelley, a spokesman for the district, said Thursday.

Hunter, the brother of hardline conservative former Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-El Cajon, said he's happy the work has started, but he's not quite ready to call it a victory.

"It's better than 10 more years of nothing," Hunter said. "But until it's done, well ---- probably then, we'll have a little party."

The 82-mile canal, which helps bring water to San Diego County, runs from the Colorado River to the Imperial Irrigation District in the Imperial Valley. It runs parallel to the U.S.-Mexico border most of the way, making it an obstacle that illegal immigrants must cross.

About 600 people have drowned in the canal over the years, Hunter said. Many of those who died were illegal immigrants from Mexico.

Hunter, a physicist, has compiled a list of the drownings going back to 1942. He has posted them at www.allamericancanal.org. He and his wife, Laura Hunter, organized a group called Citizens for All-American Canal Safety and have frequently attended district board meetings to promote the safety lines.

The couple also head the Water Station group, which places water in the deserts east of San Diego to prevent illegal immigrants from dying of thirst.

Since he started his campaign in 2001, Hunter said he has met resistance from authorities and encountered bureaucratic wrangling. At the time, he got help from his brother, who was then a congressman and was able to appropriate about $92,000 to look into the problem.

Nearly half the money was spent on a study that concluded the safety lines would be too dangerous because of the waters' strong current, John Hunter said. He didn't buy that conclusion.

In November 2009, Hunter and a fellow activist, filmmaker John Carlos Frey, installed a line supported by buoys across the canal. The effort was an act of civil disobedience and part media stunt to show that the lines would work.

Hunter and Frey were arrested and charged with trespassing when they swam across the canal using the line. Those charges were later dropped.

In 2008, the Imperial Irrigation District board of directors asked the San Diego County Water Authority to consider implementing Hunter's proposal to put buoy lines along the canal.

At the time, construction was under way in a water authority-funded project to line about 23 miles of the canal. It was an effort to save water by keeping the water from seeping into the ground.

However, the lining of the canal causes the water to flow faster, making it more dangerous for anyone caught in the canal.

Two years later, work on the installation of the buoy lines had not started.

In March, the district installed a buoy line for testing. Border Patrol agents trained in rescue missions swam across the canal using the lines.

Officials said at the time that they would continue to study the lines for another year before installing the rest of the safety lines.

The turning point came in May of this year, Hunter said. That's when the CBS news show, "60 Minutes," aired a story on the canal's deadly history.

"It was '60 Minutes,'" Hunter said. "That's what did it."

Kelley, the spokesman for the district, said it was primarily the deaths that were occurring in recent months that prompted the district to act, not "60 Minutes."

"The '60 Minutes' piece certainly focused the nation's attention on what had been previously a regional issue, but I don't think it's fair to say that the media spotlight prompted this decision," Kelley said. "I think it's a recognition that the IID could continue to debate, and meanwhile deaths were occurring in our own backyard."

The project, which is expected to cost about $1 million, includes about 105 buoy lines. They would be spaced every half-mile along the 23-mile lined portion of the canal, with one line for every mile on the 59-mile unlined portion, Kelley said.

Keith Croxton, a spokesman for the Border Patrol in El Centro, said the agency had no position for or against the buoy lines. He also declined to say whether the agency believes the lines would increase illegal immigrant traffic in the area.

"It's not our policy to comment on matters outside our organization," Croxton said. "If the district feels that is something they want to do, that's entirely up to them."

Hunter, a self-described "right-winger," said he is no softy on illegal immigration. He said he simply doesn't want to see people dying.

"A decent human being doesn't want to see another human being drown," he said.

Source - http://www.nctimes.com/news/local/sdcounty/334ad3e9-8416-55ea-8096-1361c655218a.html