U.S. Chamber Survey Finds 9/11 Slammed Southwestern Economy

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The United States Chamber of Commerce today released a survey of state and local chambers of commerce in the Southwest detailing the local economic fallout from post-9/11 security measures along the U.S.-Mexico border.

"The government's painstaking scrutiny of people and goods has dealt a massive blow to the Southwestern economy," said U.S. Chamber President and CEO Thomas Donohue. "It's up to the government to dedicate additional resources and technology to protect the public while permitting the free flow of people and goods. Otherwise, finding a potential terrorist among the 800,000 people who cross daily from Mexico is as difficult as finding a needle in a haystack."

The Chamber report — based on interviews with business leaders throughout the border region — found that gridlock at border checkpoints not only has translated into lost manufacturing and retail business, but also has significantly reduced the number of people crossing for work, school, and tourism. And while commerce has begun to normalize, the unpredictability of cross-times remains a major impediment to the region's economic recovery. "The problem is not that we have delays, but the unpredictability of the delays," said survey participant Frank Feild of the Brownsville Chamber inTexas.

"When you're sitting in line and expect to take an hour and a half but end up spending four, you miss that plane, messing up everything further along the assembly line."

Bilateral trade with Mexico is worth $250 billion, according to the U.S. Chamber. To protect U.S.-Mexico commerce, the Chamber is calling on Congress to appropriate additional funds for the U.S. Customs Service and Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) to invest in new technologies and better intelligence techniques.

The release of the U.S. Chamber study, titled "America's Southwestern Border After 9/11," comes as Gov. Tom Ridge prepares for a March 2 trip to Mexico with U.S. Customs Service Commissioner Robert Bonner and INS Commissioner James Ziglar to discuss bilateral security and migration initiatives. The Chamber survey is available online.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world's largest business federation, representing more than three million businesses and organizations of every size, sector and region.

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