Caltrans grants a stretch of I-5 that includes a border patrol checkpoint
to the foes
of illegal immigration, a move some critics call "unfortunate."

By Richard Marosi, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer, January 12, 2008

SAN DIEGO -- The Knights of Columbus have adopted a highway. So have the
Japanese
American Citizens League, biker groups, Indian casinos and the
International House of
Pancakes.

Now add the San Diego Minutemen.

Caltrans has granted an Adopt-A-Highway stretch of Interstate 5 to the
ardent foes of
illegal immigration -- and not just any stretch. The two miles of freeway
the
Minutemen will be charged with beautifying include the U.S. Border Patrol
Checkpoint
near San Clemente.

"How great is that," Jeff Schwilk, the group's founder, told his members
in an
e-mail.

Critics disagreed, saying the California Department of Transportation
ignored its own
rule that bars groups that advocate violence or discrimination from
participating in
the program.

"The Adopt-A-Highway program was designed to allow organizations to show
pride in the
state of California . . . and it is unfortunate that the Minutemen, whose
approach .
. . includes advocating violence, have been allowed by Caltrans into the
program,"
said Tina Malka, associate director of the San Diego branch of the
Anti-Defamation
League.

Schwilk denied Friday that his group advocates violence and said no member
has ever
been arrested for immigrant-related violence.

Caltrans spokesman Edward Cartagena said the Minutemen got the stretch of
I-5 purely
by chance. The group submitted its application in November, he added, and
it was
reviewed and found to comply with the rule. According to the agency's
website, it
bars "entities that advocate violence, violation of the law, or
discrimination based
upon race, religion, color, national origin, ancestry" and other factors.

"The Department will not discriminate against groups that otherwise meet
the program
criteria based on the fact that some members of the public might disagree
with the
particular group's agenda or reputation," Caltrans said in a prepared
statement.

The group's two signs -- one on each side of the freeway -- went up in
late December.
Members have been given a safety course on how to clean the freeway. Their
first
cleanup day is set for next Saturday.

Schwilk said Caltrans rules bar demonstrations, and he and his crew would
just be
beautifying the roadway. "We'll be out there in dorky-looking vests, hard
hats and
goggles, picking up trash," he said. "We're a community activist group, so
why
wouldn't we take other steps to help our communities?"

Enrique Morones, president of the Border Angels, a San Diego-based
immigrant rights
group, questioned the Minutemen's motives and called Schwilk's move a
publicity ploy.

"They're desperate to get attention, even if it means sweeping the
freeway," he said.

The San Diego Minutemen operate mostly in north San Diego County, where
members often
demonstrate at day labor sites and trade accusations of violent behavior
with
anti-immigrant groups. Schwilk says the group has 600 members. Others say
membership
has dwindled to no more than 30.

A former Marine, Schwilk says on his website that he worked alongside
hardworking
Mexicans in a carwash for more than three years in the 1980s and that his
best friend
in school was half Mexican.

Andy Ramirez, chairman of Friends of the Border Patrol, congratulated
Schwilk on his
great freeway location. It's entirely fitting, he said, that a group like
his that
supports the border patrol's mission be given the area near the
checkpoint.

In fact, he said, "The irony is killing me. . . . Why didn't I think of
that?"

richard.marosi@latimes.com