Border decisions: Top people meet in El Paso
El Paso Times Staff
Article Launched: 08/12/2008 12:00:00 AM MDT

There's no reason not to settle at least some issues on improving needed security, while still improving the flow of commerce on our borders.

Some of the top people in those fields have been in El Paso talking about that Monday and Tuesday.

There have been gatherings here before. Looksees. Now it's time for putting a plan into action.

So some initiatives should come out of the fifth annual Border Security Conference ongoing at the University of Texas at El Paso. When high-level officials, from both the U.S. and Mexico, are at a table, it's expected they get some things done.

One thing expected to be finalized was making UTEP the site for the National Center for Border Security and Immigration. That's a natural.

Among those high-level persons named as attendees of the two-day conference are FBI Director Robert S. Mueller; Air Force Gen. Victor "Gene" Renuart, commander of the U.S. Northern Command; and Ralph Basham, the commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

We agree heartily with U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, that this is the place to bring high-level federal officials who have the power to make things run smoothly between our two countries. As Reyes points out, El Paso-Ju rez is "the largest border community in the world."

And as data show, our Texas ports of entry are among the busiest in the U.S.

We await what decisions have been made by these high-level officials and we hope initiatives can be announced from Washington, D.C. and


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Mexico City.
Since the threat of terrorism has been addressed, commerce along our border has been slowed. We must have a secure border, and that means tighter controls. We are slowly putting them in place.

But we must have ways to move commerce faster.

It's a multi-billion-dollar annual business here. Technology to do that is being developed -- secure cargo initiatives are one example. State Sen. Eliot Shapleigh, D-El Paso, has been a leader in that initiative both on our southern and norther borders.

At this gathering of high-level minds, and from this major center of international trade, should come ways to modernize how we do business while maintaining the security all U.S. citizens deserve.
http://www.elpasotimes.com/opinion/ci_10168857