Expressing more concern about environmental habitat than national security, the California Coastal Commission yesterday rejected a federal government request to build two fences along the border to help contain illegal immigration.
The commission, which has long battled with private-property owners over the right to use their land, this time thwarted the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection, reported the San Diego Union-Tribune.
The agency wants to build the final three-and-a-half miles of a triple-fenced security zone along a 14-mile stretch from the Otay Mesa border crossing to the Pacific Ocean.
The commission decided the fence and proposed patrolling of roads in the area would threaten a sensitive reserve that drains into a national estuary, the paper reported.
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