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BORDER NEWS
City officials in Imperial Beach, California, just outside of San Diego, are concerned that new plans by the federal government to construct a secondary border fence will cause an area park to become unusable.  The Border Field State Park, which overlooks the Pacific Ocean, is dedicated to friendship between the US and Mexico.  The government plans to build a fence that would cut straight through the park.  The city council of Imperial Beach recently voted to declare the park a “special study area” in which the fence cannot be constructed.  However, because the city has no power over the federal government’s decision to erect the fence, the vote was only symbolic.  The San Diego County government has also asked the federal government to not build the fence.  Environmental groups, who are concerned that it will damage a fragile saltwater marsh, also oppose the fence.  The construction of the fence has been delayed at least until next year to allow the completion of an environmental impact study.

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INS officials found 18 stowaways on board a Chinese owned cargo ship after it docked near New Orleans, Louisiana.  The ship, which was bound ultimately for Japan, initially set sail from Venezuela six days before landing in the US.  Immigration officials were called after the captain of the ship found four stowaways.  The rest were found in an INS inspection of the ship.  Three of the men were hospitalized, and the others were taken into INS custody.

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The Coast Guard this week returned 166 Haitians to their home three days after stopping their boat in the Bahamas.  The 166 people were aboard a 60-foot sailboat.  The Coast Guard transferred them to a Coast Guard vessel for medical care, and they were then returned to Haiti.  This was one of the largest groups of people apprehended in the area this year.