With Mexican President Vicente Fox pressing for dramatic changes in U.S. immigration policies, Congress and the Bush administration resume their long-running struggle over cross-border trucking.

Fox’s call last week for accelerating a decision on the status of illegal Mexican immigrants broadened the political context of the border dispute. The decision on how to regulate long-distance Mexican trucks crossing the U.S. border is being made in light of a complex web of issues, including free trade, presidential politics and highway safety, as well as immigration.
After a month of recess, it still is not not clear what Congress intends to do. The conflict turns on two bills, one in the House that would prevent the border from opening at all, and one in the Senate that requires the U.S. to establish a strict new border safety regime. The Bush administration opposes both approaches, offering instead a plan that would boost the U.S. border presence to vet Mexican applicants for safety.
The main purpose of the House and Senate bills is to appropriate funds for the Department of Transportation – so there is pressure to get the work done in time for the new fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1. Congress has missed that deadline with past appropriations bills, however, and the fight could drag on longer.
President Fox also applied pressure, telling editors of The Washington Post that he expects the U.S. to honor the commitment it made in the North American Free Trade Agreement to open the border.
He said the U.S. and Mexico must agree on the regulations that apply to cross-border trucking – “because it’s a partnership deal.” If Mexican trucks are not allowed into the U.S., then U.S. trucks will not be allowed into Mexico, he said.
Fox said the conflict is not caused by economics or anti-Mexican sentiment, but by a lack of preparation. Both countries have known for years that the border is supposed to open, yet “nobody bothered to work on all the details. That’s what is being built up right now.”
Meanwhile, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration is putting regulatory pieces in place. The agency cannot spend money it does not have, said Assistant Administrator Julie Anna Cirillo, but it is looking at candidates for border inspector positions it expects to fill.
She said that the agency can be ready to ensure safety by January 1, 2002, when the border is now scheduled to open – provided it does not have to finish constructing new border facilities.
“We have senior people in the agency who are bilingual and certified (as inspectors),” she said. “They can go to the (Mexican) companies, do the inspections, certify them and put on the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance stickers.”
She said the agency would not be able to review all Mexican applicants by January, but it could get to some. She anticipates that most of the applicants will be companies from south of the California border, which already have to comply with CVSA standards.