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  1. #1
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Mexico Boosts Customs Inspections Of Southbound Pedestrians In San Ysidro

    Mexico Boosts Customs Inspections Of Southbound Pedestrians In San Ysidro

    Wednesday, August 19, 2015
    By Jean Guerrero


    By Jean Guerrero
    A Mexican immigration employee sits at new East Gate inspection facility, Aug. 19, 2015.


    Southbound pedestrians at the world’s busiest border crossing, San Ysidro, face increased customs inspections with Mexico’s launch of a new immigration building.

    Mexican immigration officials will start checking passports at six inspection booths in the building on Thursday.


    Known as East Gate, the facility includes three lanes: one for Mexicans, another for non-Mexicans and one for visitors who plan to stay in Mexico longer than a week.


    Pedestrians will be asked to press a button that will randomly select people who must pass their baggage through an X-ray scanner.


    Top Mexican and U.S. officials held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Wednesday for the facility.


    Gil Kerlikowske, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Commissioner, applauded the opening of East Gate.


    By Jean Guerrero
    Mexico's finance minister Luis Videgaray shakes hands with CBP Commissioner Gil Kerlikowske at East Gate, Aug. 19, 2015.


    “(Mexico and the U.S.) have a dual mission on border security,” he said at the ceremony. “We both must make investments in infrastructure, and certainly, this building is reflective of that.”

    “A healthy border infrastructure is vital to our economies and our respective national security,” Kerlikowske said.


    Mexican immigration officials said the facility won’t lead to long wait times like those for U.S.-bound pedestrians.


    Rodulfo Figueroa, head of Mexico’s National Migration Institute in Baja California, said enforcement will be sensitive to the flow of people walking across the border into Tijuana.


    Customs inspections rules have long been in place at the southbound San Ysidro border crossing. But the new building gives Mexican officials the infrastructure to enforce them.

    Mexico’s finance minister Luis Videgaray, also spoke at the ceremony. He called for more collaboration between the United States and Mexico on border infrastructure, saying it will increase trade between the two countries and benefit both economies.


    By Jean Guerrero
    Ribbon-cutting ceremony at East Gate included U.S. CBP Commissioner and Mexico's FInance Minister, Aug. 19, 2015.


    “Without a doubt, we have to recognize that since implementing the North American Free Trade Agreement, trade has increased to a greater degree than we’ve improved border infrastructure,” Videgaray said.

    He called Otay II, an upcoming toll-funded port of entry in Otay Mesa, “the most important” project for boosting trade between the United States and Mexico.


    Francisco Vega de Lamadrid, Baja California’s governor, said East Gate was part of an ongoing effort to improve border infrastructure across the state.


    The state’s tourism minister, Oscar Escobedo Carignan, said in an interview that he thinks East Gate will allow Mexico to receive visitors “in a more dignified way.”


    The building will serve about 22,000 southbound pedestrians, officials said.

    http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/aug/19...thbound-pedes/

    Last edited by JohnDoe2; 08-20-2015 at 01:40 AM.
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    Senior Member artclam's Avatar
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    When did Mexico start inspecting incoming people at San Ysidro? When I visited there ten years ago there was just one Mexican officer standing around watching everyone go by.

  3. #3
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by artclam View Post
    When did Mexico start inspecting incoming people at San Ysidro? When I visited there ten years ago there was just one Mexican officer standing around watching everyone go by.
    Mexican immigration officials will start checking passports at six inspection booths in the building on Thursday.
    .
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    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    At busy border crossing, foreigners now need to show their passports to enter Mexico on foot

    In this Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015, photo, a man headed into Mexico stops at a fountain as fellow travelers approach the entrance to the Mexico border crossing in San Ysidro, Calif. Starting late Wednesday, Aug. 19, pedestrians going to Tijuana from San Diego at the San Ysidro crossing must choose between a line for Mexicans who get waved through, and a line for foreigners. Foreigners must show a passport, fill out a form and - if staying more than a week - pay for a six-month permit. (AP Photo/Lenny Ignelzi)

    Associated Press

    Aug. 20, 2015 | 11:46 a.m. EDT
    By ELLIOT SPAGAT, Associated Press

    SAN DIEGO (AP) — Walking into Mexico at the nation's busiest border crossing with the United States is no longer an uninterrupted stroll for foreigners.


    Pedestrians going to Tijuana from San Diego at the San Ysidro crossing must choose between a line for Mexicans who get walk through unchecked, and a line for foreigners who must show a passport, fill out a form and — if staying more than a week — pay 322 pesos, or roughly $20, for a six-month permit.


    Travelers have long followed similar protocol at Mexican airports, but the new border procedure marks a big change at land crossings that weren't designed to question everyone. Pedestrians and motorists have generally entered Mexico unencumbered along the 1,954-mile border with the United States.


    "This is about putting our house in order," said Rodulfo Figueroa, Mexico's top immigration official in Baja California state, which includes Tijuana.

    The switch went off without a hitch late Wednesday. About a dozen foreigners stood in line, directed by English-speaking agents to six inspection booths. It took about 10 minutes from start to finish.


    Joel Rios of San Diego, who was headed to Sea of Cortez for a fishing trip, was impressed. "It's what you see in airports and in other countries, but you're just not used to it in Mexico."


    Andrew Woodruff, who visits Tijuana bars and casinos about twice a week from the San Diego suburb of El Cajon, worried that lines may eventually become longer, discouraging visitors.


    "This is going to be a real bear," Woodruff said after getting his passport stamped in an airy new building that replaced cramped quarters. "I will give more thought to what days and times I come."


    Motorists will see no change, and if lines get too long, officials say they will also wave pedestrians through.


    The changes, which have been in the works for years, come as Donald Trump has surged to the top of the Republican field in the U.S. presidential race. He has insisted that Mexico sends criminals to the U.S. and pledges to build a border wall at Mexico's expense.


    For Mexico, it is a step toward closing an escape route for American criminals who disappear in Mexico. Border inspectors will tap into international criminal databases.


    More than 120 Americans expelled from Mexico this year while living in Baja California had arrest warrants in the U.S.,
    according to Figueroa, delegate of the National Migration Institute. Some ordered to leave last year were on the FBI's most-wanted list.


    But authorities say benefits extend beyond stopping unwanted visitors. A recent hurricane stranded twice as many Americans in Cabo San Lucas than U.S. authorities thought were there, Figueroa said, and registering as a foreigner would have made it easier to identify those who needed help.


    Figueroa said Mexico can initially process about 1,000 foreigners daily, up from about 50 currently.


    "If the line becomes clogged up, we will just let everybody through," Figueroa said. "If we can't check everybody, we won't."


    Figueroa said San Ysidro is believed to be the first U.S. land crossing to have a separate line for foreigners to show passports and that it will serve as a model for others as they are upgraded. Aurora Vega, a spokeswoman for the National Migration Institute, referred questions to other departments.

    Officials at the Foreign Relations Department and Mexican Embassy in Washington had no immediate comment.


    About 25,000 pedestrians (and 50,000 motorists) cross daily at San Ysidro to work, shop and play
    but it is unclear how many are foreigners in Mexico. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says about one-third entering San Diego are U.S. citizens, one-third are U.S. legal residents and the rest are from other countries, largely Mexico. An unknown number have dual citizenship or residency in the U.S. and Mexico.

    Both countries have long wrestled with logistical hurdles of stopping people going to Mexico by land. The U.S. occasionally stops motorists and pedestrians as they leave — mainly to check for guns and cash — but it doesn't have a system to record exits like at airports, seen by many as a significant shortcoming in border security.

    Previous efforts to question more foreigners entering Mexico met resistance in Tijuana, whose economy partly relies on Americans who visit restaurants, beaches, doctors and dentists. Lines to enter the United States at San Ysidro have exceeded four hours.


    Roberto Arteaga, who has made tacos, shined shoes and sold tickets for private bus and van rides in Southern California during 28 years as a street vendor near the border crossing, says requiring passports and imposing a fee for longer stays sends the wrong message.


    "We should be welcoming," he said during a lull in business. "This will hurt Tijuana's economy."


    Other crossers said the move was overdue.

    "Anything to keep the country safer is much better for everyone," Cynthia Diaz of Oceanside, near San Diego, said as she stood in line to return to the U.S with her niece, who visited Tijuana for a root canal. "It's safer for us on the other side too."

    http://www.usnews.com/news/us/articl...o-enter-mexico

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  5. #5
    Senior Member JohnDoe2's Avatar
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    Pedestrians Visiting Tijuana Lament Mexico’s Increased Border Inspections

    Friday, August 21, 2015
    By Jean Guerrero

    Joel Ewbank and his girlfriend were heading to Tijuana for a day of shopping when Mexican immigration officials stopped them at a new border building Friday.

    Mexico’s San Ysidro customs inspections facility, East Gate, has separate lines for Mexicans, non-Mexicans and visitors who plan to stay for longer than a week. It also has six booths where officials check passports and fill out immigration forms.


    By Jean Guerrero
    Joel Ewbank and his girlfriend cross the San Diego-Tijuana border after a 20-minute wait at East Gate, Aug. 21, 2015.


    Ewbank said he stood in the line for non-Mexicans for about 20 minutes.

    “Before noon on a weekday, I think that’s kind of crazy,” Ewbank said.


    Ewbank said officials stamped his passport and asked him questions about where he was going and how long he planned to stay. They also had him press a button to determine whether or not his backpack would be inspected. A light on the security stand turned green, allowing him to proceed.


    The last time Ewbank visited Tijuana from San Diego, he just walked across the border, no questions asked. He’s one of many pedestrians who expressed frustration with the facility, which opened this week.


    “It’s actually a lot more difficult than getting into any other country I’ve been to,” Ewbank said.


    The facility was launched as Baja California is experiencing what the state's tourism minister, Óscar Escobedo Carignan, called "its best tourism moment in eight years."


    Customs inspections rules have always been in place here. But the new building gives Mexico the infrastructure to enforce them. Officials said about 22,000 southbound pedestrians pass through East Gate daily.

    Forty-one-year-old Tamara Gonzalez is a U.S. citizen, but she moved to Tijuana after her husband was deported from San Diego.

    She often crosses the border for dialysis treatments in San Diego. While on her way back to Tijuana from the hospital on Friday, a Mexican immigration official told her she would have to purchase a $22 permit because she planned to stay in Tijuana for longer than a week.

    “It’s way harder, I don’t understand it,” Gonzalez said. “I mean, I’ve been living here without problems, and now they want me to have a passport, they want me to pay.”

    José Natera, a 69-year-old citizen of both the U.S. and Mexico, lives in Rosarito but crosses the border every day to get insulin injections for his diabetes in San Diego.

    His dual citizenship meant he didn’t have to wait in line at East Gate. But the pathway leading out of the facility to downtown requires Natera to walk farther than before.

    “For handicapped people and older people it’s too far and too difficult to walk,” he said. “I’m really mad about walking, I’m too old.”


    Not everyone is upset about the new configuration. Gabriela Rodriguez, also a dual citizen of the U.S. and Mexico, said she felt the border crossing process was swift.


    “It doesn’t affect me at all because I have dual citizenship,” Rodriguez said. “I didn’t have any problems. I passed perfectly well.”


    Rodriguez, 50, said she thinks it makes sense for Mexico to enforce its immigration rules, as the U.S. and other countries do.


    “They should do everything legally here,” Rodriguez said.

    http://www.kpbs.org/news/2015/aug/21...exicos-increa/

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