Awards for trade facilitation a positive move for Customs and Border Protection
By Nelson Balido
Texas Insider Report: AUSTIN Texas In a March 25 ceremony in El Paso CBP Commissioner Alan Bersin awarded 4 of that areas CBP officers the Trade & Facilitation Award for their work on a cargo diversion program at the Ysleta Port of Entry. It didnt earn screaming headlines in your
morning newspaper or a special report on Fox News but Customs & Border Protection made a small albeit symbolic step in the right direction to raise its trade facilitation mission to the same level of importance as enforcement.
The trade community wholeheartedly supports CBPs efforts to do all the agency can to ensure that our ports of entry are not conduits for human trafficking or drug smuggling. We stand strong with CBP to ensure that our border infrastructure is protected from harm and that the illegal export of currency and firearms is stopped in its tracks.
But just as important is CBPs mission to facilitate the passage of legitimate trade and travel. It is the legitimate cargo that comes across our land borders with Canada and Mexico that is so integral to the health of the U.S. economy.
The auto parts cars electronics produce and apparel that go back and forth across the borders are not only a major part of our economy but oftentimes are just one element of a sophisticated cross-border supply chain and a just-in-time manufacturing system. When products get stuck in miles-long backups assembly lines go offline and jobs and the economy suffer.
Sometimes CBPs portrayal in the mainstream media would have you believe that CBPs only job is to crack down on bad guys. Watch an episode of Border Wars on the National Geographic Channel and youll be treated to footage of marijuana busts K-9 teams taking down smugglers and foot chases through the desert.
The headlines and the video footage get attention from Congress. In testimony the Border Trade Alliance submitted to the House Homeland Security Committee this week we point out that according to a recent report by the Government Accountability Office Border Patrol - which is responsible for enforcement between the ports - is now better staffed than at any time in its 86-year history.
I get it. Watching trucks pass through a port of entry isnt exactly must-see-TV. But without a CBP thats committed to facilitation we all lose. Thats why Im encouraged that U.S. Sens. John Cornyn (R-TX) Lindsey Graham (R-SC) Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Jon Kyl (R-AZ) wrote to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy last week requesting that he convene a hearing to look at our land border ports long wait times due to lack of staffing and aging infrastructure. Thats a needed recognition from Capitol Hill that security and facilitation can and must go hand in hand.
That the commissioner of CBP gave four officers an award for trade facilitation isnt going to change the culture of CBP overnight. But I commend Commissioner Bersin for raising the profile of facilitation through this small act and I applaud the work of the officers who earned the award.
I hope its a sign of things to come.
Nelson Balido is the president of the Border Trade Alliance a non-profit organization that serves as a forum for participants to address key issues affecting trade and economic development in North America. Visit the BTA website at
www.thebta.org
