Davis, Baja California peer push security cooperation
By Michelle Morgante
The Associated Press
March 27th, 2003
SAN DIEGO -- California must work with Mexico, its top trading partner, to improve the flow of commerce and visitors across the international border
while balancing the need for heightened security, Gov. Gray Davis said Wednesday.
Davis met for about an hour with Eugenio Elorduy Walther, the governor of Mexico?s Baja California state, which borders California. The two sides
proposed steps they hope will ease the flow of cross-border traffic and strengthen security.
"We understand the importance of continued dialogue, even as America is at war, to encourage commerce across the common border -- which improves the
economy on both sides," Davis said. "While security is our No. 1 priority, we want to find ways to make it easier for people to cross the border."
The meeting was on of a series this week between governors on both sides of the border.
California imported $17 billion in goods from Mexico in 2001 and sent a nearly equal amount to Mexico, he said.
Each day, more than 165,000 people enter San Diego through two ports of entry connecting it to Tijuana, Mexico, according to U.S. estimates. At least
40,000 of them work in the San Diego area, according to the study by San Diego Dialogue, a public policy program.
To improve communication on security, Davis and Elorduy said they would have their respective agencies send daily bulletins to one another to share
non-classified security information.
Davis said Baja California would be given access to data from the California Anti-Terrorism Information Center. The center, formed in the wake of the
Sept. 11 terror attacks, provides law enforcement agencies with information used to track terrorist threats and activities in the state.
"We are a region; we are at peace with each other; we are allies and we need to work together," Davis said.
Since the U.S. launched its attack in Iraq, the number of people traveling across the border appears to have decreased. Though no official numbers
were available, wait times at San Diego?s two entry points have fallen well below their normal levels.
Last week, a day after war began, traffic lanes were nearly empty at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the world?s busiest border crossing. Rumors had
circulated that the port would close, and many in Tijuana expressed reservations about traveling to the United States at a time of war.
Likewise, Baja California?s Tourism office reported this week that hotels in the state, including the tourist destinations of San Felipe, Rosarito and
Ensenada, saw more than 460 reservations canceled in the first five days of the conflict. That number, however, was less than half the cancelations
recorded after the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Elorduy said while the number of people crossing the border may have fallen, cargo traffic has not diminished.
Both governors stressed that people should feel safe about crossing the border in either direction.
"What is important here is that we are giving a clear signal that we are working together, and working so that we can give security and tranquility to
Baja Californians as well as to residents of California state," Elorduy said in Spanish.
Davis said he would suggest the federal government expand its SENTRI program, which allows commuters who have passed background checks to avoid
lengthy lines of vehicle traffic heading north at the San Ysidro and nearby Otay Mesa crossings.
Ideas include adding more traffic lanes devoted to the SENTRI program, an acronym for Secure Electronic Network for Travelers? Rapid Inspection, and
working to reduce the time applicants wait to receive their passes, which is currently about six months.
Elorduy added that Baja Californians would like to have SENTRI cards stay valid for five years, as is the case with similar passes used on the
U.S-Canada border.
In the first seven years of the program, SENTRI passes were valid for one year. Attorney General John Ashcroft recently expanded validity to two
years.
Elorduy also called for a similar program to be designed for pedestrian border-crossers.
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