The Voice of the Border: Trade, immigration, infrastructure, health, agriculture, technology
The Border Trade Alliance on March 18, 2010 wrote to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano regarding her department’s decision to shift $50 million in funding away from SBInet to already proven, off-the-shelf technology.
In the letter, BTA expresses its concerns over cost-overruns and missed deadlines, but also makes the case that technology continues to offer more promise than expensive physical barriers of limited effectiveness.
Leading border trade group says trucking dispute undermines administration’s rhetoric on trade
SAN ANTONIO – The Border Trade Alliance (BTA) today renewed its call for the Obama administration and Congress to quickly bring to a close the dispute between the United States and Mexico over cross-border trucking under the North American Free Trade Agreement.
The U.S. Congress last year canceled funding for a pilot project allowing Mexican long-haul trucks access to the U.S. interior. Mexico responded by imposing tariffs on U.S. agricultural and industrial products bound for the Mexican marketplace.
In a letter to U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, the BTA wrote that the current cross border system that prevents Mexican and U.S. long-haul trucks from carrying their loads from point of origin to their ultimate destination in another country reduces the region’s competitiveness, increases business costs and hurts consumers.
“The current cross-border trucking model between the U.S. and Mexico is not only highly inefficient, but it’s in violation of NAFTA,” BTA President Nelson Balido said. “This issue has been a political football for too long. It’s time for the president, Congress and their counterparts in Mexico to come together on a solution that lives up to both countries’ responsibilities under the agreement and gets trade moving across our shared border.”
The BTA’s letter comes on the heels of President Obama’s announcement of his National Export Initiative, designed to promote American exports around the globe and strengthen the U.S. economy.
“Unfortunately, the longer this trucking dispute drags on, the less credibility the administration’s trade agenda will have,” Balido said. “The U.S. government can take real action to boost U.S. exports by settling this cross-border trucking issue once and for all.”
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The BTA recently wrote to United States Trade Representative Ron Kirk and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood urging a swift resolution to the dispute with Mexico over cross-border trucking.
In the letter, BTA wrote:
The inefficient system that prevents Mexican or U.S. long-haul trucks from taking a load from point of origin to final destination decreases our region’s competitiveness, increases business costs and, ultimately, hurts consumers.
Texas Border Business profiled new BTA President Nelson Balido in February.
The Border Trade Alliance is supporting Sen. John Cornyn’s Emergency Ports of Entry and Personnel Funding Act and Rep. Silvestre Reyes’ Putting Our Resources Towards Security (PORTS) Act, which seek to improve staffing levels at the land border ports of entry and modernize infrastructure at the ports. Here is an overview of the bills.
The BTA recently wrote to the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and urged him and his committee to quickly consider the nomination of Alan Bersin, whom President Obama nominated to serve as the next commissioner of CBP.
Recent events have made clear that a CBP commissioner is critically needed. In the last month alone we’ve seen an attempted terrorist attack on a U.S. airliner, an opening of a new international bridge on the U.S. southern border and, unfortunately, continued smuggling of illegal drugs and human cargo. Meanwhile, the trade community is operating in an environment where trade facilitation has not been placed at the same level of priority as security within CBP.
The Border Trade Alliance (BTA) recently wrote to the Department of Homeland Security expressing concern that DHS’ legitimate desire to hire more air marshals could create new vulnerabilities and slow trade and travel along the land borders by hiring inspectors away from CBP.
Leading border trade group taps former DHS division director
PHOENIX – The Border Trade Alliance (BTA) today announced that Nelson Balido has been hired as the organization’s new president.
Balido, who hails from San Antonio, has extensive experience in the public and private sectors. His career includes stops at respected companies like SBC Communications, where he served as the company’s director of multicultural marketing, and most recently at the Federal Emergency Management Agency, where he directed the agency’s private sector division and earned the DHS Award of Excellence.
“We are thrilled that Nelson is joining our team,” Border Trade Alliance Chair Kathy Neal said. “The BTA board and I are excited that someone with Nelson’s extensive background both in business and government is directing our organization. I know he’ll do a great job representing the BTA’s mission, whether it’s on the northern border, southern border or in Washington, DC.”
Balido assumes the BTA presidency following the departure of Maria Luisa O’Connell, who left the BTA in August after 11 years to serve as the new assistant commissioner for public affairs with Customs and Border Protection.
“The Border Trade Alliance’s reputation as the leading voice for the cross-border trade community is well deserved,” Balido said. “I am honored to lead an organization that is playing such a critical role representing our borders’ needs before policymakers throughout North America.”
Balido brings to the BTA his extensive experience in the area of border security, having served on the Department of Homeland Security’s Advisory Council for two years and earning the DHS Distinguished Public Service Medal for his tenure.
“I look forward to carrying the message to my friends at DHS that we must do all we can to ensure that legitimate trade and travel doesn’t suffer as the department pursues its core security mission,” Balido said.
Balido’s full bio can be found at www.nelsonbalido.com <http://www.nelsonbalido.com/> .
By Ed Shugert / El Paso Times
Posted: 12/20/2009 12:00:00 AM MST
EL PASO — Kathy Neal, director of trade compliance for A.O. Smith Corp., was named the 2010 chair of the Border Trade Alliance earlier this month.
A.O. Smith, which had $2.3 billion in revenues in 2008, manufactures electric motors and water heating equipment. The company has extensive operations in El Paso and Juárez. Neal is responsible for managing trade compliance for company operations worldwide.
She has been on the Border Trade Alliance’s board of directors for three years and has been involved in customs brokering and supply chain logistics for more than 20 years.
Q In the announcement of your appointment as chair for the Border Trade Alliance, you said the BTA’s focus in 2010 will be on ensuring Customs and Border Protection is deploying enough resources to handle trade and travel at the ports of entry. What, specifically, would you like to see?
A The Border Trade Alliance would like to see Customs use more-effective staffing methods and push to add inspectors at border ports of entry … because they are short meeting adequate staffing at peak hours. They need to reduce the waiting times (to cross bridges) because long lines have a negative effect on the economy. Many of these ports of entry, when they were built, were not meant to handle the volume of traffic they have now. They need to have sufficient resources to handle the increased volumes of traffic using the land ports of entry.
Most of the added staff has gone to the Border Patrol to patrol areas between the ports of entry. We want more staff for Customs, which handles the security and traffic at the ports of entry.
Q In the El Paso area, the CBP has expanded the number of lanes at the Downtown bridge and extended hours at the Santa Teresa port of entry. What other local changes would you like to see?
A Better, improved staffing, better for FAST (Free and Secure Trade Program) shipments so they actually have quick access to the front of the line. At the (Bridge of the Americas), entry is restricted and FAST shipments don’t get their own lanes until they get near the inspection booths. Yes, it does move faster (than other commercial traffic lanes), but having their own access would be helpful.
Also, the CBP did a pilot program last year for 24-hour inspections at Zaragoza but stopped it after the economy dropped and shipments from the maquiladoras fell. As the economy recovers, we’re looking toward CBP management to work on a program to bring that back.
We’ve had the best relationship with CBP, and we work together toward better trade. Most CBP officials work very well with the trade community because they recognize our trade partnership.
Q The Metropolitan Planning Organization and the elected officials who are part of it are studying the need for another bridge between the Bridge of Americas and Zaragoza Bridge. Is a new bridge needed and, if so, where should it be built?
A I think we need a bridge that will be modern and up to date with the latest technology and that is fully staffed. We have advocated for a bridge for several years now. We went to Washington, D.C., to talk to elected officials about the need. We were hoping to get a low-risk, business-only bridge with dedicated commuter lanes and for FAST shipments. … Of course, we understand neighbors’ concerns (about increased traffic through residential streets) but there are ways to accommodate those concerns. Commercial traffic could be routed directly onto the Border Highway and never drive through neighborhoods. And if you look at an aerial view of that area, you can see Juárez has built many major roads from the maquilas that lead directly to the border. We should take advantage of that.
Q In February, $720 million of the stimulus money was dedicated to infrastructure upgrades for land ports of entry. But much of that money went to small, low-traffic ports instead of high-volume ports with long waits. What went wrong?
A It was very disheartening to the BTA because we worked very hard to get that money for CBP. The high-volume and high-traffic ports are where the spending is needed. I don’t want to speculate why that didn’t happen. Now, there are bills from Congressman (Silvestre) Reyes (D-El Paso) and Sen. (John) Cornyn (R-Texas) that are focused on getting more personnel dedicated to the ports.
Another thing the BTA is working on is improving CTPAT (Customs-Trade Partnership Against Terrorism). One of the requirements for shippers to participate in the program is to improve security at the point of origin of shipments and throughout the supply chain. CBP has encouraged participation in CTPAT but there are benefits we are going to push for, additional benefits for trade partners that have spent so much time and money to qualify. Those added benefits include accelerated processing, more information sharing with CBP and front-of-the-line privileges at all ports of entry for all CTPAT shipments.
Ed Shugert may be reached at eshugert@elpasotimes.com; 546-6352.
Related legislation
# U.S. Rep. Silvestre Reyes, D-El Paso, and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, have introduced bills in Congress that would add personnel and new infrastructure if passed:
# HR 1655, sponsored by Reyes and called the PORTS Act, or Putting Our Resources Towards Security Act, seeks to fund the creation of 5,000 Customs and Border Protection officers during fiscal years 2010-14 and seeks $1 billion for each fiscal year during 2010-14 for infrastructure improvements at the land border ports of entry.
# S2767, sponsored by Cornyn is called the Emergency Port of Entry Personnel and Infrastructure Funding Act of 2009. It seeks to inject $40 million for 250 CBP officers on the southwest border in fiscal year 2010 and, in the future, would add 5,000 CBP officers split between the northern and southern borders. Cornyn’s bill would also offer CBP officers recruitment and retention bonuses ranging from $5,000 to $10,000.
# As for infrastructure, Cornyn’s bill seeks $100 million for near-term infrastructure improvements at the land border ports. His overall bill calls for the authorization of $6 billion in total appropriations, of which $55 million would go to the incentive payments and $30 million would be used for Border Area Security Grants.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced last week that U.S. Border Patrol Chief David V. Aguilar will become Acting Deputy Commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The announcement comes nearly a month after Acting Deputy Commissioner Jayson Ahern announced his retirement at the end of this year. The position becomes effective January 3, 2010.
A border native with over 30 years of border security experience, Aguilar was appointed as Chief of the Border Patrol for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in 2004. Prior to that appointment, Aguilar was chosen as the Chief Patrol agent of the Tucson Sector in 1999 following his position as the Assistant Regional Director for the Border Patrol in Dallas, Texas, a role in which he served since 1996.
