A plan for the border

Commissioner Alan Bersin calls for changes to improve trade and immigration

By Leslie Berestein, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
Thursday, May 6, 2010 at 8:47 p.m.

Speaking at a community forum at Point Loma Nazarene University on Thursday, recently appointed U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Alan Bersin stressed a need to move goods and people, including a legal flow of immigrants, across the border more efficiently than it’s being done today.

Bersin, who was appointed to the top job in the agency in March after a year of serving as border czar for the Obama administration, reiterated the administration’s position that broad changes are needed in the nation’s immigration system.

He said a workable plan should have three legs: a secure border, a secure and legal flow of workers that meets the needs of U.S. employers, and a way of removing those convicted of crimes, while giving those who merit it a path to legal status and eventually citizenship.

“This is a nation of immigrants,â€