Who and Why of Border Crossings Told : Trade: Survey cites $4-billion in commerce as reason for speeding checkpoint inspection for regular cross-border commuters.

Clogged traffic lanes and eternal delays at the official crossings that separate Mexico from San Diego are nothing new to the border landscape.

But a report released Monday by a San Diego civic group offers new insights into just who these people are and what they’re doing: An overwhelming majority cross many times each month to work, shop and visit friends and family.

Among them, they spend more than $4 billion a year in San Diego and Tijuana, according to the study. And they’re sick of the long, hot lines.

The study, conducted by San Diego Dialogue with the help of student interviewers from Tijuana’s Universidad IberoAmericana, offers the first look at just who crosses the border between San Diego and Tijuana and what they contribute to the region’s economies.

Already, the border along San Diego’s southern edge is the busiest in the world, with more than 52 million cars crossing each year, according to the group. Thousands more cross illegally into San Diego County every day.

With the impending North American Free Trade Agreement, lines at the ports of entry are expected to get worse, and, unless steps are taken to speed up the commute for these big spenders, they may just take their business elsewhere, members of San Diego Dialogue warn.

Commuter lanes that electronically read bar codes on the cars of frequent crossers could speed things up, suggested Charles Nathanson, executive director of San Diego Dialogue, a collection of business leaders, media representatives and academics from both sides of the border.

“There’s thousands of people who want to come here and spend money, and shop and shop and shop, and we’re keeping the doors locked,” Nathanson said.

The researchers interviewed more than 5,000 legal border crossers this summer at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa crossings. About 230,000 San Diego and Tijuana residents cross once a week or more, making 4 million trips a month and accounting for 97% of all vehicle crossings, the group found.

About 103,000 people cross 20 times a month or more, making more than 3 million monthly trips and accounting for 74% of the total traffic.

Many of those interviewed said they spend hours in line at the U.S. Customs and Immigration and Naturalization Service inspection lanes, head researcher Millicent Cox said.

The study has broken down some of the border’s persistent stereotypes, she said.

“We did ask people where they work and what their occupation is,” Cox said of the Mexican residents commuting into San Diego. “These people aren’t maids and gardeners. They’re scientific technicians, computer programmers, managers and MDs”

Of the Mexican residents coming to the U.S. on weekdays, 34% come to work and 40% come to shop, the study shows. On weekends, 53% come to shop.

The main reason that U.S. residents visit Mexico is to socialize, with 42% going to visit friends and family.

Regardless of the reasons, one thing is certain: the frequent crossers are spending money. Every year, Mexicans spend an estimated $2.6 billion in San Diego, and U.S. residents spend $2 billion in Tijuana, Nathanson said.

Members of San Diego Dialogue said that, without the waits, those numbers could skyrocket.

“There’s hidden trade that does not occur because of the deterrent of the wait. There will be a lot of trips not being made because people are avoiding the crossing. But trade will multiply if we had an easy crossing,” said Mexican businessman Enrique Mier y Teran.

If long waits persist, however, trade may shift to other border locations.

“We think that, if we don’t spruce things up at the San Diego-Tijuana border, the traffic will go to Texas, or Mexicali,” said Bill Rick, an engineer who chairs San Diego Dialogue’s border committee.

The committee will come up with a list of policy suggestions in about two months, Nathanson said. Some other suggestions members made Monday included machine-read passports and visas, and a machine used by the INS at some East Coast airports that reads the fingerprints of international commuters.

“The question is, do you really need to check each person’s physical documents every time they cross?” asked Cox.

Rudy Murillo, an INS spokesman for the San Diego region, said the high percentage of frequent crossers comes as no surprise. The agency is looking into an automated commuter lane based on one at the British Columbia border, and a pilot project is slated for the border with Mexico, he added.

“It’s been very successful,” Murillo said of the automated lanes at the Canadian border. “The vehicles slow down. They’re still subject to spot inspections, by random process, or if the inspector notices something. Everybody seems to like it-- police authorities, the chambers of commerce. It has paid for itself, and it has paid to open more free lanes.”

A program like the Canadian one could fund some more inspectors and enable federal officials to staff all 24 inspection lanes at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, Murillo added. Now, 10 to 18 primary lanes are used.

Easing up on border inspections, however, could prove to be politically sensitive at a border that has become synonymous with drug interdiction. Any move to implement a pilot program would be negotiated with U.S. Customs, Murillo said.

“When you say, Let’s try it in San Diego, they’ll say, ‘No. That’s the last place we want to try something new,’ ” Nathanson said.

Since a new 10-foot steel-mat border fence went up in the region more than a year ago and drug interdiction efforts on the border increased, drug seizures at the legal crossings have have shot up, said U.S. Customs spokeswoman Bobbie Cassidy.

Cocaine seizures are up to 111 at the ports of entry along the California border, contrasted with 65 for the same time last year, Cassidy said. Marijuana seizures are up to 1,194, contrasted with 630 last year.

U.S. Customs district director Rudy Camacho declined to comment on the report until he had a chance to review it, but Cassidy said the agency has already taken measures to speed traffic at the border.

“Agents are processing cars at 100 an hour,” Cassidy said. “The car-pool lanes have decreased the wait time. The dogs rove out into the primary lanes. All of those things not only help us find drugs, they help us expedite the traffic.”

Border Business

A study released Monday by a San Diego civic organization offers insight into just who crosses the U.S.-Mexico border and why. An overwhelming majority are commuters who cross many times a month to work, shop and visit friends and family, the report said.

Non-residents enter the United States for:

Weekdays Weekends Work 33.8% 14.0% Shopping 40.0 53.0 Tourism 2.0 4.4 Social visits 7.0 14.0 Other reasons* 17.0 14.4 U.S. residents go to Mexico for: Weekdays Weekends Work 7.8% 2.8% Shopping 7.6 5.8 Tourism 15.8 25.6 Social visits 42.2 42.0 Other reasons* 26.4 23.6

* Other reasons include banking, going to school, and going to the doctor or dentist.

NOTE: Figures do not total 100% due to rounding.

Source: San Diego Dialogue / Universidad IberoAmericana