August 15, 2019

Earlier this year, 545 U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers were reassigned from Laredo, El Paso, and San Diego to aid border patrol with immigrant detention centers and processing. In San Diego specifically,  51 officers were moved from the local field office which represented 6 percent of San Diego’s CBP workforce. This decreased staffing resulted in lane closures and increased border wait times.

In May, 26 CBP officers returned to their post in San Diego, and as of this month the remaining 25 officers are now back in San Diego. As officers have been reinstated we have seen a reduction in wait times from up to 24 hours to 3-4 hours.

The San Diego Regional Chamber has long advocated to reduce delays at our border as they result in more than $7.2 billion a year in lost productivity. We know that a complete or even partial border closure would result in an economic disaster not only for our region, but across the nation. Past threats to close the border have created uncertainty among the business community, making our advocacy and outreach even more critical. In Cali-Baja, we are home to a $2.5 billion integrated manufacturing supply chain which would be disrupted. In San Diego alone, an average border delay results in losses of nearly $1.3 billion in revenues, 3 million potential working hours, 25,000 jobs, and $42 million in wages annually. Our businesses from manufacturing to retail depend on the efficient movement of people and goods across our border.

The Chamber continues to support efforts to fill existing vacancies at CBP and for the implementation of new technologies to expedite cargo processing at ports of entry. We look forward to our upcoming meeting with CBP during the Chamber’s Binational Delegation Trip to Washington D.C. September 22-25. Spaces are still available for Chamber members who would like to register as delegates for the D.C. trip and make face-to-face connections with Washington policy makers.