Bakery raid sheds light on border-crossing cards

By Morgan Lee
Monday, November 22, 2010 at 11 a.m.

In culminating a year of investigative work using wiretaps and informants, immigration officers led away 45 unauthorized workers from an industrial warehouse in Otay Mesa.

The extraordinary effort to prosecute the people who hired these employees — the owner and certain supervisors of S & S Bakery — also uncovered a more commonplace violation: Of all Mexicans detained by immigration authorities, half were working illegally in the United States after entering the country using a border-crossing card issued by U.S. consulates in Mexico.

These cards are scannable 10-year visas issued to qualified Mexican nationals living along the U.S.-Mexico border. They allow an unlimited number of temporary visits to the U.S. for business or pleasure, but not for regular employment.

“It’s quite a benefit to have it,â€