SAN DIEGO The border received a hard blow following the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, a blow that still has the region reeling a decade later.
Tijuana residents who worked in San Diego County have sacrificed hours of sleep to be able to arrive on time. Those used to crossing northbound to go shopping now think twice about doing so, to mention a few of the impacts of that devastating day.
Oscar Preciado, the director of the expansion project at the San Ysidro border crossing for the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, still remembers what happened at the port of entry that tragic day.
Previous to that day, motorists routinely expressed their displeasure of having to wait in line to cross more than an hour by laying on their horn.
But that day, with many listening to radio reports from New York City, "la línea" turned silent.
"No one honked their horn," Preciado recalled. "It was a gesture of solidarity and respect with the entire country."
Minutes after the last of the attacks, the ports of entry closed momentarily then reopened.
That Tuesday the order came from Washington: thoroughly inspect every vehicle, Preciado recalled. That led to waiting times that topped three hours.
That turned out to be just the beginning of a headache for regular border crossers.
Waiting times at San Ysidro climbed from minutes to hours, something that the 50,000 vehicles and the 25,000 pedestrians who cross daily have accepted as routine.
Investigations showed that the 9/11 terrorists had been foreigners, which sparked a wholesale reorganization of how the United States handled foreign visitors and immigrants.
Among the changes was the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, which included the CBP, the Border Patrol, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS).
Now, the identification of people wishing to enter the United States is more rigorous for U.S. citizens as well as foreigners. They must present a U.S. passport or other valid travel document.
"Everything changed. We were obligated to do inspections differently and to ask for documents strictly," Preciado said. "Previously, people used to cross just by identifying themselves as U.S. citizens. They can't do that today."
The longer wait times, along with the new document requirements, among other factors, led to a drop in crossings.
According to CBP statistics, 33,549,345 vehicles crossed at the San Ysidro port of entry in the 2001 fiscal year. The number had dropped to 24,072,396 by the 2010 fiscal year.
For pedestrians, 42,265,083 people crossed at San Ysidro in fiscal year 2001 and in 2010 that number had dropped to 30,728,307.
"In those days, long lines for pedestrians were non-existent," said Cindy Gompper-Graves, director of the South County Economic Development Council.
The director, whose agency advocates for policies that ease crossings for the benefit of the border economy, said there's a lack of political will to improve the current situation.
"The wait times grew longer but the technology that could ease the crossing was never considered," she said.
According to 2007 San Diego Association of Governments study, annually the long waits costs the border region $6 billion in lost productivity and 60,000 jobs.
"Tourism is no longer the same. Fewer people are coming; sales are much lower," said Aida Sánchez, 45, who has sold churros at the San Ysidro port of entry for a decade.
The attacks affected families in the region.
Heber Segovia, a salesman at a business at the San Ysidro crossing, explains how starting that day, things changed radically for his family.
Before 9/11, his brother, an undocumented immigrant who lived in Tennessee, came to visit him frequently at his house.
After the attacks, that changed completely.
"Ever since then, he stopped coming, because of the tougher laws and tougher crossing," Segovia said. "Everything is more difficult than ever."
He recalled with nostalgia that he has not seen his brother since those times, except for in photos or videos.
For Roberto Arce, an architect and photographer in Tijuana, the terrorist attacks distanced him from his father.
Interviewed at the San Ysidro port of entry, the Tijuana resident said that his father, who used to cross daily to go to work, now has to leave three hours earlier to get to work on time.
"He can't spend time with his family the way he used to," he said.
His father was forced to move to San Diego to avoid the long waits, and now sends money to his family to help with expenses.
A decade after the terrorist attacks, immigration authorities are working to transform the San Ysidro border crossing by increasing the number of lanes from 24 to 62 to ease wait times.
The project is scheduled to be finished in 2016, although Congress has not yet approved funding for its latter stages.
Alexandra.mendoza@sandiegored.com
