Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge is set to announce a system to allow commercial trucks to clear customs at the Mexican border in as little as 5 seconds by using preregistered ID cards, according to press accounts.
A similar system is in use regulating trucks from Canada.
Drivers, carriers and the companies that import goods first go through an enrollment program. Drivers then get a “proximity” card, which is swiped when they approach commercial crossing lanes.
The program is for trusted truckers, trucking companies, manufacturers and importers. When enrolled trucks approach the border, information about their identification and contents will already have been transmitted electronically so they "can actually travel through the borders without impediment on our part," Jayson Aherm, a U.S. Border and Customs official, said Dec. 2 at a homeland security conference.
Automated preregistration for trucks crossing the border with Canada — called the FAST program — has been praised by federal officials including Ridge for speeding shipping without compromising security. But some say there might be added concerns implementing a similar program with Mexico.
Risks cited
"Mexican society is more corrupt by many orders of magnitude than Canada," said Mark Krikorian, executive director of the conservative Center for Immigration Studies, The Washington Times reported. "Because this kind of program is based on a significant level of trust, I would be very hesitant to apply it to Mexico, even though it has been successful in Canada."
Krikorian said a program of preregistration for Mexican truckers, trucking companies and manufacturers could leave the United States vulnerable to several types of smuggling.
"It could be illegal aliens — we've had truckloads of illegal aliens — it could be drugs, it could be radiological weapons," Krikorian told The Times.
But George Grayson, a professor at the College of William and Mary in Virginia and a specialist on the U.S.-Mexican border, told the newspaper he did not think the new program posed significant new security risks.
Grayson said only a small percentage of all cross-border traffic was subject to invasive inspections and said presorting trusted shippers would allow more of the other trucks to be checked. He added that speeding up border crossings would make trade more efficient.
