County teams with San Diego regarding border
EL CENTRO — Faced with farmworkers and others who have trouble crossing the border to work in Imperial Valley, the county is collaborating with San Diego County on a joint letter in hopes of receiving assistance from the state and federal governments.
The two counties are the only ones in California that share a border with Mexico, prompting them to send a letter to Gov. Gavin Newsom with their request for assistance.
The Imperial County Board of Supervisors were informed Tuesday that farmworkers who cross the Mexican border into the county to work the fields are no longer allowed to cross or must wait up to five hours each day to enter into the United States.
“As you may know, the Department of Homeland Security placed border crossing restrictions on all non-essential travel,” the letter to Newsom states. “Due to these restrictions, Custom Border Patrol and Protection has experienced a decrease in the volume of northbound traffic, which has led the changes to hours of operation at the Tecate, Calexico East and Andrade ports of entry.”
The five-hour wait means Mexican nationals coming to Imperial County for work must begin lining up at 3 a.m. when the restrictions begin.
“This has to be related to COVID,” said District 5 Supervisor Ray Castillo. “They are making more adjustments regarding to the flow. They probably need to open up more lanes.”
The restrictions on the east port are from, 6 a.m. to 2 p.m.
The joint letter to the governor was to urge him to open a line of communication with the two counties.
“We are both border communities,” said District 1 Supervisor Jesus Eduardo Escobar. “We get a lot of revenue from our southern neighbors.”
Prior to COVID-19, more than 50,000 people crossed the border each day into Imperial County, resulting in 20 percent of the total spending in the county.
“With the significant
economic activity generated through our ports of entry with Mexico, as well as the tremendous cross-border foot and vehicular traffic, our economies are very reliant on a robust flow of people and goods,” the letter states.
He said the county needed San Diego County to join them in signing
the letter.
“If we did it by ourselves, it would not carry the same weight,” Escobar said.
The letter requested the governor’s administration to work with state and federal counterparts in Baja California and Mexico to identify measures that can be taken to
mitigate these impacts.
“Doing so would provide tremendous economic benefits to some of our region’s most impacted population,” the letter reads.
The May 8 letter was carbon copied to four senators and eight Assembly members.