Frontera NorteSur
September 2001

September 24, 2001
Three Hour Waits to Cross from Juárez into El Paso, Stores in Both Cities Affected

According to Mexico's Caminos y Puentes Federales (Federal Highways and Bridges, Capufe), border crossers had waits of between 2 1/2 and 3 hours to enter El Paso from Ciudad Juárez on Sunday, September 23, 2001. The long lines at the bridges are due to increased inspection times at the US ports of entry. Heightened security procedures have been in place at the bridges since the September 11 attack on the US. On Sunday, lines of vehicles extended from the bridges far into downtown Cd. Juárez despite a 50% drop in bridge traffic since September 11.

Capufe said that while vehicular traffic is down at the international bridges, pedestrian traffic has increased 20%. On an average day, 18,000 people walk across the bridges that connect the city. Recently, 21,000 people per day travel on foot between the El Paso and Cd. Juárez.

Due to the decline in border crossers because of the fall off in vehicle traffic, Capufe stated that it has lost 85,328 pesos (approximately US$9,000) per day in bridge toll money between September 11 and September 21.

Articles in the El Paso Times and the Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario have reported a drop in sales at downtown stores in both El Paso and Cd. Juárez. In the Cd. Juárez Avenida-Juárez area which caters to tourists and El Paso residents, store owners say that business is off 90-99%. Comprised of bars, restaurants, pharmacies and shops that sell artisanal goods, the area was vacant of buyers over the past weekend. One store owner said that business is worse than ever before, worse even than in bad recessions.

While shoppers are avoiding border crossings, illegal immigration seems to be more or less unchanged between the US and Mexico. Méxicali's newspaper La Crónica wrote that a Beta official stated that the number of daily attempts to cross the border has not changed following the events of September 11. Beta is a migrant protection and rescue organization.

On September 24, Doug Mosier, the Border Patrol public affairs officer for the El Paso sector, told Frontera NorteSur that the number of apprehensions in the sector since September 11 has remained steady at the sector average of 200-300 apprehensions per day. The Border Patrol's El Paso sector includes all of New Mexico and the Texas counties of El Paso and Hudspeth.

Source: El Diario, September 23 & 24, 2001. Articles by Rosario Reyes and Gabriela Minjáres. La Crónica (Méxicali), September 18, 2001. Article by Héctor Peralta.

September 21, 2001
Arab Residents of Chihuahua City under Investigation

A joint investigation of Chihuahua City residents who are citizens of Arab states is being conducted by the Instituto Nacional de Migración (National Migration Institute, INM) and the Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado (State Attorney General's Office, PGJE), according to an article in the Ciudad Juárez newspaper, El Diario. A national intelligence organization, the Centro de Inteligencia y Seguridad Nacional (National Security and Intelligence Center, Cisen), is also gathering information about people from Arab nations that reside in Chihuahua City.

The joint INM-PGJE operation, known as "Milenio" (Millennium), is being coordinated by the PGJE. PGJE authorities told El Diario that since the September 11 attacks against the US, the PGJE has not detected the presence of any alleged Islamic terrorists in the state.

Braulio Gutíerrez Almuina, state director of the INM, said that as part of Operation Milenio his agents will watch people of Arab origin to obtain information about their activities in Mexico. He said their rights will not be affected.

A Cisen source that El Diario would not name told the newspaper that it was investigating post cards that were sent to a mosque in Saltillo, Coahuila from Chihuahua City. Cisen is also looking for at least two people from Pakistan that were walking the streets of the city selling artisanal goods last week. Cisen wants to locate them and find out the motives for their stay in Mexico.

In addition to the above mentioned investigations, Cisen is also gathering information about all Chihuahua City residents from Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq and other countries.

Source: El Diario, September 21, 2001. Carlos Coria Rivas.

September 17, 2001
Chihuahua Government Promotes Juárez Bypass

Despite previous protest from the Ciudad Juárez city government and from city NGOs, the Chihuahua state government continues to market the still controversial Samalayuca-San Jerónimo highway. Serving as a Cd. Juárez bypass for border crossers traveling to or from Chihuahua City and surrounding regions, the toll road is currently being advertised in Chihuahua City through flyers distributed to drivers. The flyers note that the toll road allows drivers to avoid Cd. Juárez traffic and that it connects to the San Jerónimo-Santa Teresa border crossing which has much shorter waits than the Cd. Juárez-El Paso bridges.

The Cd. Juárez PAN city government has long said that it views the new highway as a Chihuahua City-PRI attempt to divert growth and funds from Cd. Juárez. During the construction of the bypass, Cd. Juárez officials insisted that the area had more pressing transportation needs. For example, they believed that the state should have used the funds to widen the existing road between Cd. Juárez and San Jerónimo.

Armando Martínez of the New Mexico Economic Development Department's Chihuahua Trade Office in Chihuahua City told the Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario that there have been important, recent advances made in the usage of the San Jerónimo-Santa Teresa port. Martínez said that in July of last year, 6,262 private vehicles used the port. This July 11,007 private cars and trucks crossed the border at the San Jerónimo-Santa Teresa port, according to Martínez.

Source: El Diario, September 16, 2001. Article by Manuel Quezada Barrón.

September 12, 2001
US-Mexico Border Open but on Level One Alert, Port Delays Expected
by Greg Bloom, FNS Editor

The US-Mexico international ports of entry remain open according to an INS spokesperson interviewed on Wednesday, September 12, 2001. However, the border remains on the Level One alert that was initiated yesterday after the hijacking of four airliners and attacks against the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C. INS describes Level One procedures as a "sustained, intensive, anti-terrorism operation."

Yesterday, September 11, in the hours after the attacks, major national and local news media stated that the US borders with Mexico and Canada had been closed. Customs Service and INS officials later described these statements as "totally inaccurate."

Due to the implementation of Level One inspection procedures, INS advises that border crossers should expect delays at least twice as long as normal in crossing the border.

Local Reactions

About the attacks against the US, the Mexican Consul to El Paso, Antonio Meza Estrada, told the El Paso Times, "The Mexican government wishes to express its solidarity with the United States and to reprove this kind of terroristic violence."

Out of respect for the US in a time of mourning, Consul Meza also told the El Paso Times that, under orders from Mexican President Vicente Fox, Mexico was withdrawing from its participation in 16 de septiembre (Mexican independence) celebrations in the US.

Communities like Mesilla, New Mexico, a small, historic, predominantly Mexican-American community in southern New Mexico, have canceled this year's 16 de septiembre celebrations and will not reschedule them.

The El Paso Independent School District and the Ysleta Independent School District, also in El Paso, are on a normal school schedule the day after the attacks. The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) has also announced that, "Consistent with a directive from the Office of the Governor and the University of Texas System, until further notice, all UTEP business, including classes, will be conducted on a regular schedule."

September 11, 2001
US Borders Still Open After Attacks on NYC & DC
by Greg Bloom, FNS Editor

International border crossings in El Paso, TX and Santa Teresa, NM are open and have been open all day despite widespread reports on major television and radio news networks stating that the US border with Mexico has been closed. Major media sources stated that the US borders with Mexico and Canada were closed after the hijacking of four airliners and attacks against the World Trade Center towers in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington D.C.

Enrique Ray, an Assistant Public Affairs officer in the INS El Paso office, said that major media reports describing the closure of the US-Mexico border are "totally inaccurate." While Ray could not confirm if some ports had been closed on the border between the two nations, he said that all of El Paso's international bridges are still open to vehicle and pedestrian traffic. Ray said that he has heard no discussion of closing the ports although he did say that travelers should expect delays twice as long as usual.

An INS Public Affairs officer in Washington DC said that the US's northern and southwestern borders remain open but are on a Level 1 Alert which is a, "sustained, intensive, anti-terrorism operation."

Jim Coleman of the New Mexico Border Authority said that there are "normal operations" at the Santa Teresa, New Mexico port which is approximately fifteen miles from El Paso, TX.

Doug Mosier, the Public Affairs officer for the US Border Patrol's El Paso Sector, said that Border Patrol action in the field continues the same as ever with 24-hour patrols. As far as apprehensions are concerned he said that it was, "business as usual." However, the El Paso Sector compound is on a "heightened state of alert," Mosier stated. The Border Patrol's El Paso Sector is responsible for the state of New Mexico and the two western-most Texas counties, Hudspeth and El Paso.

The Federal Building in downtown El Paso, only a few blocks from the US-Mexico border was still open as of noon today, September 11. Calls to the Federal Protective Services, which is allegedly responsible for the building, were not returned.

Many city buildings and city offices in El Paso, Texas have been closed for non-essential business according to a city website.

In New York City, both 110-story buildings at the World Trade Center were each hit by one presumably hijacked airliner. The towers later collapsed and some estimates predict as many as 10,000 casualties although the actual figure could vary significantly.

Another plane struck the Pentagon in Washington D.C. There have been no estimates on casualties there. A fourth plane crashed near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

September 10, 2001
US Border Patrol Training for Mexican Federal Police

The Ciudad Juárez newspaper El Diario reports that agents from the Mexican Policía Federal Preventiva (Federal Preventative Police, PFP) received a week of specialized training from the US Border Patrol in Harlingen, Texas. The goal of the training was to create a unified front against organized crime along the US-Mexico border, according to the Secretaría de Seguridad Pública (SSP).

Some of the Border Patrol instructed classes were about such topics as K9 searches, compartment searches, traffic control, bus inspection and highway checkpoints. The SSP noted that it viewed the training sessions as an opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences with US law enforcement and as an opportunity for the substantial improvement of Mexican federal police practices. As a Mexican federal police agency, the PFP deals with such federal-level crimes as human and drug trafficking and contraband.

Citing the need for a common front against international organized crime, the SSP also stated, "It's lost on no one that human and drug trafficking bring with them collateral crimes like organ trafficking, money laundering and tax evasion."

Source: El Diario, September 10, 2001.

August 29, 2001
Juárez Maquiladoras Ask for Tax Amnesty

Maurilio Fuentes Estrada, director of the Ciudad Juárez office of the Cámara Nacional de la Industria de la Transformación (National Chamber of the Transformation Industry, Canacintra), has said that the Cd. Juárez maquiladora industry has asked both the state and federal governments for a tax amnesty that would last until the economy has recovered. Fuentes said that maquiladoras have asked for federal relief in the form of a suspension of health-coverage and housing payments. The maquiladoras have asked the state government if it would suspend the payroll tax that companies currently pay.

Part of the reasoning behind the tax holiday according to Fuentes is that maquiladoras will be able to save more jobs if employees cost less to retain. Fuentes also said that by saving jobs through tax cuts the state and federal governments will save themselves money by not having to pay out unemployment benefits.

Fuentes also told the Cd. Juárez newspaper El Diario that 50,000 jobs have been lost in Chihuahua between November, 2000 and July, 2001. This represents 15% of the total maquiladora worker population in the state, he said.

Source: El Diario, August 29, 2001. Article by Rocío Gallegos.