Long Border Wait Times In COVID-19 Era Hinder Essential Workers

Speaker 1: 00:00 Essential workers are supposed to be able to continue crossing the us Mexico border despite Corona virus precautions. But those workers have encountered a major hurdle in recent days. Last weekend, customs and border protection started to slow border traffic at the San Ysidro port of entry, which led to border weight up to 10 hours. Here's undress Roberto Moreno, who regularly crosses the border on foot. As an essential worker. Speaker 2: 00:28 I get more tired of waiting in line than what I actually work. I've done like about the same five hours at work and five hours and nine Speaker 1: 00:35 One 87 year old woman reportedly died of a heart attack while waiting hours at the border crossing while some other drivers simply abandoned their cars to escape the stop to traffic. Joining me with more on the border. Slowdown is KPBS report at Tonya thorn and Tanya. Welcome to the program. Thank you for having me, Maureen. Okay, well, tell us more about what border crossers are encountering during the slowdown. What did you hear? You know, I'm hearing just so many things. People are definitely just showing their frustration, you know, at the border, you see two types of people crossing. You see people on foot and people that are driving and both are just very frustrated. A lot of these people they're essential workers, so they need to cross daily five days a week to get to work. And, you know, people in cars they're having to be stuck in their cars for hours. Speaker 1: 01:24 And I just can't imagine that with this heat that we're having this heat wave and just having to be waiting in your car, there were reports of a car that was in fire. This elderly lady that passed away. I mean, I just can't imagine having to be in your car for that long Andreas who we spoke to outside of the Sandy Seadrill, uh, pedestrian border said that he's waited up to five hours at a time. We spoke to a security guard at the border. He's waited up to seven hours just to cross over and do his shift. So, you know, the, the wait times are just crazy out there. Is there any distinction being made between essential workers and people who aren't, you know, you would think that there would be some sort of distinction. Uh, we spoke to Maria who is a cleaner at the San Diego airport, a very essential job nowadays, especially at the airport with COVID. Speaker 1: 02:17 And she said, her employer actually gave her a certification letter that deems her an essential worker, but she has never had to present it while crossing. She says that agents haven't really even asked her any further or deeper questions as to why she's crossing. And she says, she thinks, you know, this wait time is due to the lack of agents and the lack of all of the, the Gates that are open for people to cross and the agents available to ask questions and help them get across. What does CBP say about why this slowdown is taking place? You know, so CBP conducted a survey of a hundred thousand travelers and they found that 60% of them were not essential. They traveling, you know, for shopping or to maybe just get out of their house, you know, with this lockdown that we've been having. And so this survey, um, made a new procedure for CBP to screen travelers to see why they're traveling, if they are traveling for essential needs, which means they're going to be asking more questions and possibly sending travelers into secondary inspections. Speaker 1: 03:20 So I did ask CVP about the number of agents working at a time, and they said they could not disclose that information due to being sensitive information out there is this just San Ysidro or are all us Mexico border crossings being slowed down all borders have some restrictions, but mainly because the Southwest borders are the most frequented, the new restrictions have come into place in the San Ysidro, OTT and Calexico borders is the San Diego business community concerned about the long border. Wait, you know, Murray. And I guess it really depends on that. I said that his supervisor wasn't very sympathetic. And so that employees should really take into account these long wait times. And if they're crossing from Mexico to work in the U S and you know, with unemployment rates being where they are right now, I think supervisors or managers have no problem with firing and rehiring and admitting new personnel into their business. Speaker 1: 04:18 More people are now hoping to use the pedestrian lanes for crossing the border because of the traffic snarl and hours sitting in the cars. But some say that only increases the risk of contracting Corona virus. Why is that? You know, so right now, when we were out there, we saw that one pedestrian opening is close. So Penn West is closed. The only opening where we were at was PED East, which means that the areas where people are able to cross are very limited, meaning that that crossing entrance is going to be very congested because everyone is having to go there. Um, I was looking around Facebook on the groups where people can go on there and say, you know, it took me this long, the cross don't go now go at this time. And people are posting pictures. And a lot of the lines seem very congested. Speaker 1: 05:07 There was no social distance distancing happening. So, I mean, this definitely proves to be a risk for coronavirus right now. And how long is the border traffic slowdown expected to continue restrictions right now at the border is set to expire on September 21st, if they're not extended. But again, this has been a restriction that has been into place already since March with extensions already happening since then. So I guess we just have to wait and see, I mean, of COVID cases began to drop. Maybe the restriction won't be extended, but until then I think this is going to be an ongoing problem for travelers that are hoping to cross into the U S I've been speaking with KPBS reporter, Tanya thorn, and Tanya. Thank you. Thank you.