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Metropolitan county leaders tour U.S.-Mexico Border

By Shawn Bullard
Associate Legislative Director

Whether it’s someone with a cargo van chock-full of lemons or hidden clams within an automobile’s tire, U.S. Immigration Officer Joseph Kirkman and U.S. Customs Officer Joe Misenhelter, both now under the jurisdiction of the new Department of Homeland Security, say they’ve run into some very creative people over the years.

The most memorable, however, was when someone attempted to cross into the United States through San Diego County’s San Ysidro Port of Entry and presented the officers with a death certificate as a means of identification.

"This guy came up and presented to us what he thought was a birth certificate with his name on it," said the two supervising officers. "Imagine his surprise when we told him he was dead."

If getting a first-hand look at how the Department of Homeland Security’s Bureau of Customs and Border Protection tackles day-to-day international, national, state and local challenges was a top priority for members of the Large Urban County Caucus during their recent Regional Meeting in San Diego County, they were not disappointed.

"As an elected official from one of the four largest metropolitan counties in America, you really can’t do your job in a vacuum," said LUCC Chairman Don Stapley, supervisor, Maricopa County (Ariz.) Board. "While standing at the busiest port in the world, you immediately are overwhelmed by the magnitude of people and soon realize the immense challenges now faced by our nation and those sworn to protect us, following 9/11."

At one point, as LUCC leaders watched thousands of people walk across a simple white line painted on the sidewalk into America, it was clear that both U.S. Customs and Border officials must often make life-changing decisions in a matter of seconds. Whether it may be someone presenting a South Korean passport who is really Chinese, or the sight of a truck’s bumper that just doesn’t look right, it is their job to act as the nation’s first wall of protection.

"You really get a good sense of how what happens here [San Ysidro] can directly impact Cook County [Chicago], particularly Cook County’s Bureau of Health," said Gregg Goslin, Cook County (Ill.) commissioner and a LUCC vice chairman, as well as vice chair of NACo’s Health Steering Committee.

Photo by Shawn Bullard Bob Richards, fradulent documents control officer, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, displays hundreds of fradulent documents, such as passports, birth certificates and visas.

The task is daunting for the busiest port in the world, which includes more than two dozen vehicle lanes and several pedestrian lanes. It is estimated that about 50,000 cars pass through the San Ysidro Port of Entry every day, with each car averaging approximately two to three occupants. Combine that with the nearly 25,000 people each day who travel on foot, and you’ve got the entire population of a medium-sized city crossing at one bottleneck into San Diego County every day.

Additionally, if an officer suspects any illegal activity, there are secondary and third lanes built into the system, which means much more intense questioning. It doesn’t happen very often, but if an automobile gets to the fourth lane, they’re called border runners. They get a red light, a gate and, if that doesn’t encourage them to release the gas pedal, there’s a beefy tire shredder following the final gate.

Just a few miles west of San Ysidro, where tractor trailer rigs are forbidden, the Otay Mesa Port of Entry is a trucker’s Mecca. The port averages about 3,000 tractor-trailer rig crossings each day, as well as about 33,000 pedestrians and cars. Although the pedestrian traffic pales in comparison to San Ysidro, the truck facility is a massive scene of international trade and commerce, spanning more than a dozen acres. With 18-foot-tall x-ray machines housed in large corrugated steel buildings with large openings on both ends, U.S. border officials have reduced the wait time for some tractor-trailer inspections to just 10 minutes. Before the x-rays were put in place, a manual inspection could easily take more than one hour.

Speaking to LUCC leaders, San Diego County Board Chairman Deborah Steffen, director of Emergency Services for San Diego, presented a detailed analysis of how the county has been successfully working with Mexican officials, the Department of Homeland Security, the state of California and the county’s 18 cities, several fire districts and various county departments to address several public health and safety issues.

She credits much of the county Board of Supervisors’ success in planning, and in state and federal grants received, with an often overlooked view following September 11.

While referring to natural disasters, such as floods, tornados and earthquakes, she reminded metropolitan county leaders not to place all their requests in one federal funding basket, such as terrorism.

"We know we are a multi-disaster county," said Steffen, who worked a dozen years in emergency management for the state of California before coming to San Diego County. "We all have to look at the BIG picture and not just terrorism. We can’t afford not to."

While handing out the county’s list of terrorism preparedness grants applied for and a one-page guide on "10 Easy Steps for Terrorism Preparedness," Steffen talked about standardization of equipment and operational consortiums. She firmly reminded elected officials that if neighboring districts can’t use each other’s chemical, biological, radiological, personal protection and communications equipment, they may be placing lives in jeopardy.

"You can no longer afford to not standardize emergency equipment with your neighboring jurisdictions," said Steffen.

LUCC’s other top priorities
Homeland security, uncompensated health care and immigration are LUCC’s top priorities for 2003. Urban counties are responsible for the well being of about 45 percent of the nation’s population, which live in the 100 largest metropolitan counties. Additionally, a majority of metropolitan counties are feeling the pinch of a growing immigrant and domestic uninsured population that is becoming more dependent on county public health systems, thereby forcing the recent closing of health facilities and hospitals and the laying off of thousands of health and medical professionals in counties across the nation.

"In four years, we’ve had to close four hospitals and it is now taking six to eight hours for people to receive emergency care," said Steve Escoboza, president and CEO of Healthcare Association of San Diego and Imperial counties, a nonprofit trade association representing more than 650 hospitals, health systems and physician organizations in California. Escoboza spoke to LUCC members about the health care challenges facing the nation’s public and private health care systems.

"As metropolitan counties, we forecasted this unfortunate trend several years ago," Stapley said. "I am proud of how far counties have come, but until uncompensated health care becomes a top priority, America’s health care crisis will continue to severely handicap state and local budgets. You can’t ignore it any longer. There’s no way around it."