Senators: U.S. must invest in infrastructure, personnel at international bridges
A bipartisan group of U.S. senators who represent the four U.S.-Mexico border states want more funding for land ports of entry strained by increased trade with Mexico and new security measures.
Led by Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, who toured the Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge in late August, the eight senators have signed a letter asking President Barack Obama to increase funding for land ports of entry along the Southwest border as he develops his fiscal year 2012 budget request.
The letter — signed by both senators from Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California — says staffing levels have remained below demands for many years. It adds that aging infrastructure must be replaced to handle trade increases and new security measures, such as southbound inspections, to combat the drug cartels.
“Strengthening Southwest land ports of entry should be a national priority,” the group wrote in a letter released this week. “Providing vital funding for additional (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) officers and port infrastructure will ensure our border is more secure, while enhancing the flow of trade and commerce.”
The letter comes a month after Cornyn toured aging facilities at the Hidalgo port with Hidalgo Mayor John David Franz and other members of the Texas Border Coalition.
Comprised of border mayors, county executives and local economic development officials, the coalition advocates on behalf of communities along the Texas-Mexico border on issues such as education, security and transportation that affect the quality of life in the region.
The coalition maintains that outmoded strategies and tactics cannot be used to secure the ports of entry.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office — a nonpartisan congressional agency that audits federal programs — recommends that land ports be strengthened with $6 billion to bring infrastructure up to requirements and the hiring of 5,000 additional frontline customs inspectors.
OPEN LAND VS. PORTS
A $600 million border security bill signed by the president last month provided funding for 250 CBP officers, far short of what is needed at the ports, said Monica Weisberg-Stewart, the chair of the coalition’s border security committee. The same bill allocated 1,250 new U.S. Border Patrol agents who fight smuggling efforts between the ports.
But Weisberg-Stewart said recent investments in border security have made the open land more secure than the land ports. Federal agencies have reported a 70 percent success rate in stopping drugs that cross the border between the ports, she said. But at the ports themselves, Department of Homeland Security studies found only 28 percent of major violators are caught.
“The cartels are run by sophisticated business people. They’re going to run their business in the most efficient manner,” she said. “Right now, the easiest way to get drugs into the country is right at our ports of entry.”
The state’s members of the U.S. House of Representatives have lobbied unsuccessfully in the past for increased funding at the ports of entry. But the letter supported by a bipartisan group of senators represents the first time that a push has been made in the Senate, where previous legislation stalled.
Franz said the United States has invested billions in border security, such as the controversial border fence and an ineffective technology program. But trade between the U.S. and Mexico has increased by 41 percent in the past year, overwhelming federal agents who must combat the illegal flow of drugs, money and weapons at the ports.
“In the rush to secure the border, the focus was on areas between the ports of entry,” Franz said. “Everybody thought we were fine at the ports, but that was a false assumption.”
