"Border Inspections Impeding Traffic."

Here is an excerpt from Mike Allen's article in The San Diego Business Journal:

"Backups at the San Ysidro border crossing are a given, but a recent increase in spot inspections of southbound cars crossing into Mexico could have a devastating impact on business, two San Diego business organizations fear. In a letter sent to newly appointed border czar Alan Bersin, the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce and the South County Economic Development Council said that while security must be the highest priority of customs officials, “the need to ensure that commerce continues to flow is also extremely important. Outbound checks could have devastating impacts if these operations are done without regard for consequences to the business community and towns adjacent to the border,” the letter said... The increased checks result from enhanced efforts by the United States and Mexico to stop the flow of illegal drugs, guns, cash, stolen cars and fugitives into Mexico... There are times when traffic does back up for extended periods, but customs officers mitigate (the delays) as best as [they] can. Complicating the issue is a proposed vehicle checking program by Mexico announced last month. The program involves using a scale to determine whether a vehicle warrants further inspection. The process, which also involves photographing and checking license plate numbers, would increase the crossing times from 2 seconds to 7 seconds, according to a chamber official." Link to Full Article

Analysis: I'm sure you've heard the expression (or something similar) that when everything is a priority, nothing is. This letter states that security should be the highest priority, but the flow of commerce is also extremely important. So, which should take priority? It depends on whom you ask. I have a mixed opinion about this letter to Bersin; some of it I find whiny and exaggerated, yet many of the suggestions the Chamber makes sound reasonable. In particular, I'm curious about the complaint that the new inspection system would increase the "scan" time from two seconds to seven seconds. Of course, any small delay can initiate the domino effect and start backing up traffic, but every day, all day, on a continuous basis? I'm sure there will be traffic backups at certain times of day, but I don't know if the new inspection plan would cause the backups that the letter says are likely. 

As for the Chamber's suggestions, here they are: divert checked vehicles to secondary lanes; monitor delays and suspend operations when pre-determined impacts become clear; be more proactive in transmitting information about expected border wait times; and use new state Department of Transportation electronic signs to let drivers know about the wait times. These all sound reasonable, and this sort of traffic management system exists in plenty of metropolitan areas that have highway signs posting wait times. As for diverting checked vehicles, I don't know how easy or difficult that would be, especially if a suspicious vehicle is in the center lane of an eight-lane checkpoint. I also wonder how many of these measures are already ongoing, and if the Chamber and Council inquired about the traffic mitigation measures already in place or being planned before they wrote their letter. I'm trying not to be skeptical, but sometimes people write letters of complaint before doing their homework.

I'm also not completely ignorant of or insensitive to the needs of businesses and people who cross the border daily for business reasons. I'm just trying to put things into perspective regarding any new limitations that might be imposed by southbound inspections. I imagine that any Americans who drive into Mexico every day for work are already used to the sometimes hours-long wait to get back into the US at the end of the day, and just don't want to add an extra half hour or hour to their round-trip commute. Have there been similar letters of complaint to CBP in the past about the long wait to get INTO the US from Mexico regarding the negative impact on businesses? I'm sure there have been, but business has been pretty brisk, the recent economic downturn notwithstanding. I'm just not seeing how a possible delay in southbound traffic would make things so much worse for US businesses along the border when the (probably much longer) northbound delay has been around for so long.

Bottom line, you can't have it both ways. If you want to stop money and guns from going south, you have to check vehicles. I'm not here to argue whether the decision to do that is right or wrong or whose responsibility those checks should be. The delays worry some people, no matter who's doing the checking. But the flow of guns and money, while it probably can't be stopped, needs to be slowed. This is part of the answer right now, and I'm sure we're all curious to see if and how well it works. If the Mexican government had decided to start inbound checks at the border instead of CBP starting outbound checks, I'm curious to whom the Chamber and Council's letter would have been addressed.