PHARR, Texas - Pharr International Bridge supports Daniel Covarrubias’s proposal of a unified customs agency for the United States and Mexico.
Dr. Covarrubias is director of the Texas Center for Border Enterprise and Economic Development. The center is housed within the A.R. Sanchez, Jr., School of Business at Texas A&M International University in Laredo.
Covarrubias made the recommendation in a White Paper he produced with Gerónimo Gutiérrez Fernández, the former Mexican Ambassador to the United States. It was titled “The Binational Customs Agency – A Vision for U.S.-Mexico Joint Customs Operations.”
Pharr Bridge Director Luis Bazan spoke in favor of a unified customs agency for the U.S. and Mexico in a meeting with U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar. It was held at the offices of Pharr Economic Development Corporation and included input from Pharr City Manager Jonathan B. Flores, Pharr Deputy City Manager Cynthia ‘Cindy’ Garza-Reyes, and Pharr EDC President Victor Perez.
Bazan asked the congressman if he knew Covarrubias. The congressman answered affirmatively.
“He (Covarrubias) has put out a white paper on the possibility that might seem pie in the sky right now, the possibility of a combined effort to have one combined Aduanas, one, combined customs, one customs agency that can oversee both sides,” Bazan told Cuellar.
“I think it started… the thought process came from the UCP, Unified Cargo Processing. How can we combine those efforts? Instead of just having officers for specific conveyances, can we do a combined effort, especially now with the renegotiation of USMCA?”
The full title of Mexico's customs agency is Agencia Nacional de Aduanas de México (ANAM).
Cuellar liked the idea and said he helped create the first combined customs checking facility for the United States and Mexico, at Laredo International Airport.
Bazan said having one customs agency to handle cargo operations would help alleviate a “huge discrepancy” when it comes to hours of operation.
“You'll hear CBP talk time and time again about how for us, it's business as usual every single day, except for Christmas Day and New Year's Day. But in Mexico, they have double the amount of holidays than we do, pretty much, maybe a little bit more, and at two o'clock they're gone, and that causes, delays. That causes a strain on our end. That causes strain on the infrastructure once they come back that Monday or that Tuesday or even on a Friday night.”
These disruptions do not help the Pharr Bridge’s new motto, “Faster Trade, Zero Wait,” Bazan said.
“We cannot build bridges to be waiting on top of the bridge. We're not building parking lots. Our bridges are gateways to move cargo.”
Interviewed after the meeting, Cuellar said he would work hard to support the Pharr Bridge. “I may only be representing 35 percent of Pharr, but I will give them 100 percent of my support,” Cuellar told the RGG Business Journal, referencing boundary changes to his congressional district that will come into effect next January.
“Mr. Covarrubias? I know him very well. He’s been one of those border thinkers one transportation and CBP. He has come up with a lot of good ideas. I was involved when Peña Nieto was there, when we pushed for the first joint inspection. It happened there in Laredo at the airport. And, of course, now it's spread to other places. That was the first step to have them work together,” Cuellar said.
“The next step will be a little bit more challenging, but I think we can do more coordination between CBP (and Aduanas). “For example. I've always said, they (Aduanas) have their license plate readers, and a lot of times they use the same companies as we do. But it's a different generation, so sometimes they don't talk to each other. What if we have images, X-ray images, that we can share? So, there are a lot of things where we can move up from the joint inspections that got started years ago. There's a lot more that we can do.”
Cuellar added: “We certainly want to listen to people like Mr. Bazan, Mr. Covarrubias, and other experts that have been working on this for many years, and certainly, as ranking member of the Homeland Appropriations Committee, I want to look at some of the ideas and see we can elevate the ideas that they have here on the ground.”
Cuellar added that he is looking forward to attending the inauguration of the second span of the Pharr Bridge, later this year.
Editor's Note: Here is an exclusive video recording of the discussion between Luis Bazan, Cindy Garza-Reyes and Congressan Henry Cuellar:
