New ID-check policy increases bridge wait times
Trade group files complaint with feds
By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
El Paso Times
Article Launched:08/29/2007 12:00:00 AM MDT

The stretched-out lines at El Paso's international bridges are partly due to a new policy in which customs officers check U.S. citizens' driver's licenses and enter information into a computer manually, a leading border trade group reported.
The Border Trade Alliance sent a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff last week complaining about what it says is a new, ineffective and time-consuming policy.

BTA president Maria Luisa O'Connell, visiting El Paso on Tuesday, said Department of Homeland Security officials acknowledged receiving the letter but denied there was such a policy.

However, O'Connell said, off-the-record interviews the group conducted with Customs and Border Protection port directors along the U.S.-Mexico border and the U.S.-Canada border yielded some surprising news.

"They said that they were doing 60 percent, 80 percent and in some places 100 percent inspections of driver's licenses on U.S. citizens. They said it came from Washington, D.C., and that they were told to delay traffic," O'Connell said. "We don't know if it is a political message, forcing people to see how (bad) it could be."

DHS officials in Washington, D.C., did not return calls for comment. CBP officials in El Paso cleared with their headquarters a statement that neither confirms nor denies the practice.

"CBP uses a variety of inspection techniques including random and targeted exams of people arriving at border ports of entry," the statement read.

"While some may consider border waits and thorough inspections inconvenient, they do generate numerous drug seizures, immigration violations, fugitive apprehensions, agricultural intercepts and other attempts to violate the laws CBP enforces and which cannot be ignored.ÊCBP cannot sacrifice security for speed."

But O'Connell said license checks do nothing to improve security because a driver's license is not proof of citizenship and can be counterfeited. In addition, CBP computers are not apparently linked to states' driver's license databases, she said.

Lines at El Paso bridges have grown recently from minutes to hours, partly due to a construction project that closed half the lanes at the Paso del Norte Bridge and reported understaffing at CBP. Trade association officials said the recent driver's license checks compound the problem.

Elisa Martinez, a 69-year-old U.S. citizen living in El Paso, said she went to the dentist in Juárez Monday night with her children and on her way back was puzzled to be asked for her driver's license.

"No one asked what our citizenship was or what we were bringing back from Mexico. They asked for our driver's license. I asked why? If it was a policeman and I had done something wrong in traffic, I understand why I have to give a driver's license.

"But on the bridge? I don't know what they are looking for."

She said the officer entered the information into a computer by hand and that it "took forever."

She also wonders what the information will be used for.

"My husband said, 'That's a good way to keep track of you.' It's like Big Brother," Martinez said.

Business travelers were similarly disturbed.

Stephanie Caviness, owner of Pan American Search, a 30-year-old executive search firm for maquiladoras, said the waits are making it hard for her clients and her recruits.

"In the past two or three weeks, candidates with whom I had scheduled appointments in my office have waited as much as two hours in line crossing from Juárez to El Paso. In addition, I have been recruiting a complete startup team for a new operation in Juárez, and their executive team was here interviewing and having planning meetings in Juárez.

"Each evening for an entire week, they spent a minimum of an hour and a half in line returning to El Paso. These wait times have everyone up in arms: individuals, suppliers, and manufacturers," said Caviness, who is also a BTA member.

The Border Trade Association, a Phoenix-based group created by El Paso's Foreign Trade Association, is a member of the Secure Borders Open Doors Advisory Committee that advises the DHS and the State Department. It is also the private-sector force behind the creation of the Dedicated Commuter Lanes and the FAST lane in El Paso. Its members include large maqui ladora companies.

Last month, Chertoff announced that starting Jan. 30, 2008, U.S. citizens at ports of entry would have to show a passport or a photo ID and a proof of citizenship such as a birth certificate or a certificate of naturalization. Most of these documents are not standardized and not machine-readable, and experts expect much delay in the review process.

O'Connell said the recent driver's license checks may be a way to get CBP officers and bridge users accustomed to what will surely be longer waits come January. But, she said, the agency should conduct a pilot at one border crossing instead of creating lines everywhere.

CBP statistics showed car traffic is decreasing at the bridges. In July, 1,178,864 cars went through the ports of entry at El Paso, Santa Teresa and Fabens, or an average 38,027 cars per day. In July last year, there were 1,342,247 cars or an average of 43,298 cars per day.

The decrease of 163,383 cars has been partly counterbalanced by an increase of 145,874 pedestrians in the same time period, suggesting border crossers have given up on long car lines and crossed on foot, especially at the Paso del Norte Bridge.

The BTA's letter said the driver's license check did not pass the "common sense test."

"Washington does not understand the economics side of this," O'Connell said. "The environmental angle, they don't really care about that, either. When I am in Washington, I always play the security angle. I tell them, 'How are you more secure with long lines? What if a truck has a bomb. You're all sitting there (on the bridge).' "

Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com; 546-6131.

For more information: Border Trade Association, http://thebta.org; bridge wait times, www.cbp.gov.



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