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Border Firms Still Assessing Damage From Tight Security
BY MANDY JACKSON
Staff Writer
Businesses along San Diego’s border with Mexico are still assessing the economic fallout resulting from Sept. 11.
“We’re doing much better. My concern is that we still are seeing some really long border waits. We can only estimate how that affects our business,” said Carlos Vasquez, president of the San Ysidro Business Association.
Security at the border shot to a Level 1 alert, its tightest security level, immediately after the terrorist attacks on the East Coast and has not been loosened over the last year.
As a result, U.S. Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service inspectors are required to conduct more intensive examinations of people and cargo.
The increased security lengthened the time it takes to cross the border into San Diego, keeping many Mexican customers from shopping and conducting business here. Vasquez said there is still reluctance for people to cross the border unless it is absolutely necessary.
He sells Mexican insurance to American tourists for Baja-Mex Insurance Services Inc., and his family owns the Frontier Motel in San Ysidro.
Vasquez said businesses in San Ysidro are pulling through, and few companies have closed their doors.
The Small Business Administration provided economic injury disaster loans to companies that suffered because of Sept. 11.
In San Diego County, 60 companies received loans totaling $4.7 million, according to SBA District Director George Chandler. Restaurants and hotels, as well as businesses along the border, were hit particularly hard by Sept. 11 events, Chandler said.
The SBA is accepting loan applications until Sept. 30. The loans have a 4 percent interest rate and can be for amounts up to $1.5 million with terms of up to 30 years.
Twelve loans totaling $376,000 went to businesses in San Ysidro, such as an $8,500 loan to Copa Cabana San Ysidro Travel Agency, which specializes in travel to Central and South America , particularly Brazil.
The owner, Jesus Cardozo, said the loan was used to pay for ticket orders made before Sept. 11 because sales dropped to zero immediately after the terrorist attacks.
The SBA is also offering Supplementary Terrorist Act Relief loans through the end of the year, which have shorter terms and higher interest rates.
Small businesses may also qualify for the Military Reserve Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, for companies that had employees called into active duty.
“We’re guessing it’s a huge market potential we’re not tapping into. I think government officials don’t understand that,” Vasquez said, citing the impact of traffic at the border.
Cargo traffic seems to be moving well across the border, according to Steve Gross, president of Border Trade Services, a cross-border warehousing and logistics operation.
Gross said crossing the border is still slow for drivers that don’t have SENTRI passes. Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection provides dedicated commuter lanes for pre-screened border crossers.
Agencies Add More Inspectors
In May, President George W. Bush signed a border security bill that provides 200 more inspectors for the INS between 2003 and 2006. The bill includes pay raises for current INS inspectors.
Rep. Bob Filner, D-Chula Vista, asked the president to call an economic state of emergency in border communities after Sept. 11.
“The reaction of the administration has not been healthy for the border. Rather than increase security, they have slowed legitimate traffic,” Filner said.
“We asked for more inspectors and we’re getting those, but every time they hire them, they lose them through attrition,” Filner said.
INS inspectors don’t have law enforcement status, so they don’t get the same benefits as law enforcement officers, according to Filner. He has written a bill that would change their status.
During the current budget cycle the INS received funding to add 60 inspectors to the border in California. So far, 35 inspectors have been hired, according to Lauren Mack, a spokeswoman for the INS in San Diego.
Once hired, the background check and training process takes about a year to complete.
The INS has some serious challenges in retaining inspectors, Mack said. However, the salary increase approved in May brought salaries closer to other law enforcement agencies, she said.
Vince Bond, a spokesman for the Customs Service in San Diego, said there are 650 uniformed Customs inspectors working at the border entries and ports in California, down from 701 last year. Bond said more inspectors are being hired.
The average wait at the San Ysidro border crossing for the month of September in 2001 was two hours. By December, the average wait was one hour and it has remained roughly the same throughout 2002, Bond said.
“It has not gone quite to what it was before Sept. 11, but it is reasonable for the level of security,” Bond said.
Inspection Process
Before Sept. 11, pedestrians waited an average of 10 minutes to cross the border at San Ysidro. Mack said the average wait is about 30 minutes now. The INS is working on a program similar to SENTRI for pedestrians.
Otay Mesa wait times have been slightly shorter than at San Ysidro. About 3,000 trucks per day cross through the southeastern San Diego corridor. Because X-ray and gamma ray machines examine trucks, the wait for trucks has not shortened much, Bond said.
The INS received $1 million from the federal government to expand the SENTRI enrollment center in San Ysidro. It paid for construction, equipment and new employees to speed up processing of applications.
Mack said 21,000 people have SENTRI passes along this area of the border and 8,000 more people are waiting for their applications to be processed.
The Customs Service has initiated the Customs Trade Partnership to move goods across the border and through ports faster.
The partnership requires applying importers and air, rail and sea carriers to assess their supply chains using specific security guidelines.
Applicants have to develop and implement an enhanced security program and communicate it to suppliers. In exchange, the suppliers will have a reduced number of inspections.
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