While the cartels have had a breeze getting across the border, legal commercial cargo has been slow to get across the U.S. Mexico border in Southern Arizona due to a lack of Customs and Border Patrol agents and port access. However, on Wednesday, the federal government announced that 170 additional Customs and Border Protection officers have been assigned to ports in Southern Arizona.
Two border crossings in Nogales will receive 120 additional CBP officers. Twenty-five agents will be assigned to the Douglas port and 25 to the San Luis port near Yuma.
The Nogales West port of entry, according to the Arizona-Mexico Commission, is used by about 1 million pedestrians, 576,000 trucks and close to 2 million cars. In terms of value, the imports and exports through this port of entry now exceed $20 billion.
The Commission says the port will go from 4 car lanes to 12, from 4 cargo lanes to 8, from no formal designated pedestrian facilities, to fully designated pedestrian facilities and it will be the first port of entry on the entire US-Mexico border with fully dedicated bus lanes and inspection facilities.
The Arizona Congressional delegation sought additional CBP officers for Arizona in a letter written a month ago to Jeh Johnson, secretary of Homeland Security.
According to Congressman Rob Barber, taxpayers spent $200 million to expand the Mariposa port in Nogales – but without additional CPB officers, the newly added lanes for commercial traffic could not be fully utilized. With full staffing, the port could handle 4,000 trucks per day – much of it produce.
The additional staffing was welcomed by Lance Jungmeyer, president of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas.
“It has been many years in the making, and while this increase could have been greater, we feel this is a huge win for the produce-importing community,” Jungmeyer said. “This should result in decreased wait times, while also allowing for expansion of commerce.”
Barber and his colleagues asked Johnson to assign 500 of them to Southern Arizona.
“I am disappointed that Arizona did not receive the full 500 officers because that means the ports still will not be able to operate at full capacity,” Barber said today. “But 170 is a good start and I will continue working on the Committee on Homeland Security to ensure that Southern Arizona ports receive the resources they need.”
Chuck Wooten, a challenger in the CD2 Republican Primary said, “We must accommodate trade, this is long overdue, and vital to our economic security. The fact that this increase is only finally happening now, indicates that there must be an election around the corner. Barber admits that we needed 500, and we only got a fraction. On my latest trip down to the border, that ranchers and folks down there are getting inundated with intrusive cartel traffic. They have not even gotten a fraction of Barber’s and the administration’s attention. As much as we need to focus on a strong solution for trade to assist our communities, we cannot take our eye off the plight of the ranchers and border residents who are spending precious time and money on dealing with cartel activity. DHS needs to fully understand their approach isn’t working.”