Border, Customs, SENTRI / Global Entry
Border issues with customs requirements and SENTRI / Global – dual CBP programs that allow... View more
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Mexican Immigration to help with San Ysidro border wait
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Mexican Immigration to help with San Ysidro border wait
Mexican immigration officers, accompanied by security forces, will be checking travelers’ documents before they enter the United States from the car lanes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry beginning Tuesday — a move that highlights Mexico’s escalating role in helping the U.S. control migration to the United States.
Mexican officials say the move is an attempt to speed up border crossings. Using Mexican immigration officers to filter out travelers without valid documents before they get to the United States — a task currently performed by U.S. border authorities — would allow U.S. officials to redirect resources to staffing more travel lanes for Mexican commuters, the officials hope.
Consul General of Mexico in San Diego Carlos González Gutiérrez called the program a “binational collaboration exercise” intended to bring the port of entry to its “full potential.”
Meanwhile, immigration and human rights advocates are concerned about what the move will mean for asylum seekers, whom the extra checks are ostensibly meant to stop.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection currently stations officers at the physical border line — known as the “limit line” and delineated by a yellow line with raised bumps on the ground — to check that drivers and their passengers have documents to enter the United States. It is an initial inspection point just a short stretch from the booths where more CBP officers fully review travelers’ documents and determine whether cars can proceed.
The current double layer of U.S. officials at the border has been around since at least last summer. It is a response to asylum seekers, particularly Russians, driving onto U.S. soil in the car lanes to request protection because they had few options for doing so under U.S. policies.
Mexican officials hope that as part of the pilot program, which runs from Nov. 15 through Jan. 15, CBP will assign those officials to open more crossing lanes since Mexican authorities will be doing a similar job. González Gutiérrez said Mexican negotiators had been very clear with the United States on this point.
CBP did not respond to a request for comment.
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1 Reply
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Not really sure they can help that much as at that point it would be very difficult to turn them around / get them out of line. We’ll see…
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