Express Lane Opens for Cargo Traffic at Calexico
http://www.allamericanpatriots.com/m-news+article+storyid-46...
"FAST" lane designed to counter terrorism, promote trade
18 January 2005
By Eric Green
Washington -- A new express lane for cargo trucks enrolled in a program to counter terrorism and promote trade has opened at a U.S.-Mexico border
crossing at Calexico, California, announced the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agency, part of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.
In a January 17 statement, the CBP said U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and Mexican Interior Secretary Santiago Creel formally opened that
day the Calexico "Free And Secure Trade" (FAST) lane leading from Mexico into the Calexico port's east cargo facility. The express lane is the result
of a U.S.-Mexico bilateral initiative that seeks to ensure security and safety while spurring commerce between the two nations, said the CBP.
Mexico is one of the United States' largest trading partners, and "it is critical that we prevent terrorists from infiltrating the commercial chain to
launch an attack,? said Ridge. ?This lane will enhance the security and safety of the commercial flow of goods" on the border, while "enhancing the
economic prosperity of both countries."
Mexico's Creel said the initiative is "one of the very positive results of the U.S.-Mexico Border Partnership," which was announced in 2002. "We are
jointly implementing mechanisms that correctly balance security, trade and migration,? he added. ?We are acting responsibly and facing our new joint
challenges as good neighbors, trade partners, and friends do. Through these joint efforts, we are protecting our economic prosperity and providing
enhanced security to our people."
The CBP explained that the FAST lane program supports moving pre-approved eligible goods across the border quickly and verifying trade compliance away
from the border. It is offered to pre-approved importers, carriers, and registered drivers. Shipments for approved companies, transported by approved
carriers using registered drivers, will be cleared into either country with greater speed and certainty, and at a reduced cost of compliance, said the
CBP. The agency said the Calexico port of entry has enrolled almost 500 qualified drivers so far, and CBP continues to promote the program through
outreach programs to the commercial trade community.
Calexico, across the border from the Mexican city of Mexicali, is the sixth U.S.-Mexico border port of entry to dedicate a FAST lane, said the CBP. In
October 2004, the port of Otay Mesa, California (within the city of San Diego), became the first community on the California-Mexico border to open a
FAST lane. Similar lanes have opened at ports of entry in the Texas cities of Laredo, Pharr, Brownsville, and El Paso. These ports are the largest
cargo facilities on the U.S.-Mexico border, and together account for over 90 percent of the commercial traffic on the border, said the CBP.
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