Maria Luisa O'Connell Visits Laredo Texas

Maria Luisa O’Connell Visits Laredo Texas

Nation2Nation N2N | Nov 30, 2009 | Comments 0

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Ms. O’Connell is Assistant Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Public Affairs

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- / N2N / – Just a few weeks ago, I had an opportunity to visit Laredo, Texas, my first trip there as Assistant Commissioner for U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s Office of Public Affairs, but not my first trip to Laredo. In my previous life as Director of the Border Trade Alliance, I had visited Laredo and attended meetings a number of times. This time was different. This time I was sitting on the other side of the table, representing CBP.

The aerial tour really helped to put everything into perspective. I could see the large volumes of passenger and commercial traffic streaming across Laredo’s four international bridges, a railroad bridge and then at the new state-of-the-art Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 35.

I then met with key area CBP officials during a working lunch, including Laredo Director of Field Operations Leticia Moran, Chief Patrol Agent Robert Harris and Acting Director of Air Operations David Blackwell. I listened to their perspective and offered them the resources of the Office of Public Affairs both at the local and national level to help tell their story to the community.

From there I went on a quick ground tour of the Border Patrol checkpoint on Interstate 35. Patrol Agent In Charge Hector Escamilla and Special Operations Supervisor Clara Torres gave an informative briefing on the checkpoint operations and how CBP Border Patrol is looking at best practices and design issues to help guide the construction of the next Border Patrol checkpoint. The multiple booths can process heavy volumes of cars and trucks efficiently and effectively during peak periods.

I had the opportunity to interview a CBP officer at the Laredo Port of Entry and learned firsthand what motivated the officer to undertake the difficult task of securing our border. The officer’s answer was simple. The officer is most concerned about the children in this country and his efforts every day on the frontlines at the port of entry are geared toward one goal, to keep America safe and to prevent contraband from getting through the border and into the hands of children.

Port Director Gene Garza led me on a tour of inspection operations at Lincoln-Juarez Bridge. I got to see the large volumes of traffic that are processed at the bridge’s 12 northbound lanes, the enhanced outbound inspection area where CBP officers and Border Patrol agents work side by side and the challenges faced by the 100 buses a day that arrive and the lack of a stand-alone inspection facility for buses.

In fact, the construction of the bus inspection figured prominently among the topics discussed at a stakeholder meeting held shortly after the tour. City officials emphasized the need for a full-service facility to properly welcome to the thousands of bus passengers that arrive at the port annually.

We discussed immigration reform and one local freight forwarder explained the need for immigration reform to respect those who went about emigrating the legal way and place them at the front of the line.

Later, at the Texas Border Coalition conference, Directors of Field Operations Leticia Moran, Ana Hinojosa and Port Directors Gene Garza, Bill Molaski and Mike Freeman gave an overview of CBP operations in their areas, the impact of increased technology to assist in balancing security with enforcement and the challenges of infrastructure limitations in their areas.

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn delivered a keynote speech at the conference outlining his recently introduced legislation calling for the funding of 5,000 new CBP officer positions and infrastructure improvements at high volume ports of entry. He also spoke about the need for the resolution of the Mexican truck dispute which prompted retaliatory tariffs from Mexico on exportations of U.S. agricultural products. He also spoke about the need for parity in tourist visas for Mexican and Canadian citizen and the need for comprehensive immigration reform and a robust guest worker program.

Lastly, I moderated a panel on business partner roles, responsibilities conflicts and solutions. Panelists explained the important value of the Mexican consumer to businesses in Texas, the need to police produce imports to guard against the impact of citrus greening on the domestic citrus industry and the need for closer cross-border relations and facilitation of cargo. I did help clarify an errant observation that only five percent of commercial trucks are inspected. I asked El Paso DFO Ana Hinojosa to field the question and she explained that CBP performs a 100 percent examination of the electronic manifest data that is submitted for every conveyance and that we use the multi-layered examination structure and make effective use of our non-intrusive imaging systems and other inspection technology.

This trip to Laredo provided an excellent opportunity to interface with regional CBP leadership, key stakeholders, listen to their input, concerns and explain what CBP’s Office of Public Affairs can do to help address their issues, concerns and to better tell the CBP story. I look forward to my next trip to the Southwest Border where I hope to do more of the same.