Truck Topics

Border Security: Touchy All Around

A central feature of living in the United States is one of debate, and I’d be hard pressed to find a topic as controversial as border security.  There are countless opinions floating around about it, and many of them seem to be well-informed--despite the fact that this information appears to come from an extremely wide variety of sources.  Some folks think the US border is too open, some think it’s not open enough.  And when you throw the topic of shipping and trucking on top of that, things seem to get complicated.  

Too, there aren’t just two sides on the matter; as with any controversial topic, those folks with more extreme opinions tend to be the loudest and therefore get the most attention, while the rest of us, with our widely varying opinions, are almost relegated to watching a war of words that doesn’t really represent how the majority of people feel about the issue.  

At any rate, the question is this: how open is the U.S. border, really?  The short answer, and the one that perhaps opens a can of worms larger than what I’m prepared to fully answer, is that it depends upon what you’re referring to.  There’s no shortage of citizen border patrols and other groups (some of which might be referred to as “extremist groups”) that are primarily concerned with citizens of Mexico and other Central American nations making camp in the U.S. for the purpose of work.  This, of course, has comparably little to do with the shipping industry itself, aside from the fact that such groups tend to be quite vocal and, to some degree, influence local, state, and federal lawmaking processes.  In the grand scheme, this has not all that much to do with shipping and expediting over the border--to both Canada and Mexico.  

With the limited knowledge I have about crossing the border for the purpose of trucking, it seems that there are two significantly different processes when it comes to Canada versus Mexico--so it might stand to reason that one border is a bit more “open” than the other.  To some degree, this is political.  On a much larger scale, it has to do with underlying issues that the United States identifies when dealing with Canada and Mexico.  

As dealing with the border in the shipping industry goes, dealing with the U.S.-Canadian border seems to be a much simpler, more well-organized affair than its U.S.-Mexican counterpart.  To be sure, there’s much red tape to be handled, and some truckers don’t like to make the foray into Canada when it comes to loads--but it seems to be nearly infinitely simpler than going to and from Mexico with a load.  You’ll find a link below from http://www.truckingsafety.org outlining tips for truckers on crossing the Canadian border with loads; this should prove to be helpful in the event that you’re heading across the border with a load for the first time.

I noted above that Mexico comes with its own set of special circumstances.  Simply put, the list is rather long.  While NAFTA certainly changed things as trade and shipping goes, there are numerous, only-obliquely-related matters surrounding trucking from the U.S. into Mexico (and vice versa).  Perhaps the most newsworthy of these is the longstanding matter of security issues at the U.S.-Mexico border.  In April, for example, Ryder hosted a border security conference with a special focus on security practices related to shipping into Mexico (You’ll find a link to the press release about this event below).  

Another issue that tends to make the news with respect to the Southern/Southwest U.S. border is that of drug smuggling--it’s something that seems to make the news on a regular basis, and it’s something that probably has contributed in no small part to the above-noted security issues; the United States’ stance on drugs is reasonably staunch, and individuals shipping drugs, primarily marijuana, in via the Mexican border can face some pretty stiff penalties.  There was a fairly recent news story about trucking companies being enticed by drug smugglers to use the Free and Secured Trade (FAST) lane to sneak their contraband in.  Pretty scary stuff when you’re looking at it from the perspective of the customers of the trucking companies in question--especially when you consider the potential of dollars/products lost because of the stupid decision(s) on the part of your shipper.  

There’s no shortage of issues surrounding the Southern/Southwest border of the U.S. when it comes to shipping--including U.S. labor union’s support of a ban on Mexican trucks on U.S. roads, the issue of human trafficking, significant differences in how each government handles their trucking industries, and simply what one should watch out for when trucking in Mexico.  You’ve noticed that I’ve barely scratched the surface here, and it’s an issue I hope to return to in the near-ish future.  

No matter your opinion, one thing’s for sure--the United States’ border is either too open or not open enough.  An open border, which allows for the immigration that helped to build the U.S. throughout its history, is a touchy subject because it taps into our sense of who we are as a country.  It also taps into how we want the future to look.  To be sure, the attacks of September 11, 2001 feed no small fear of attacks against the U.S., but that’s only part of the issue; an open border, along with our varied stances on Free Trade, all but cement the fact that the U.S. border will either be too open or not open enough for the liking of all--and I don’t think that there’s any one solution that will make everyone happy.  Until then, you can look for the government, trade associations, labor unions, and more or less everyone else to wander back and forth between their opinions without actually coming to any solid conclusion about what’s to be done.  

Sources and further reading
http://www.natlaw.com/pubs/spmxcu7.htm
http://www.dhs.gov/files/bordersecurity.shtm
http://www.usborderwatch.com/
http://www.truckingsafety.org/PDF/Guidebook/BORDER08.pdf
http://driversmag.com/ar/fleet_homeland_security_truckings/
http://www.ccjdigital.com/ryder-hosts-u-s-mexico-border-security-conference/
http://www.homeland1.com/transportation-border-security/articles/606468-Program-to-help-truckers-cross-border-entices-smugglers/
http://www.hstoday.us/content/view/240/253/
http://www.loadedtruck.com/moreinfo/ace.html
http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB123723192240845769.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/Money/2009/0311/us-legislation-will-stop-mexican-truckers-at-the-border