BTA Urges Greater Investment in Border Infrastructure and Resources, in Conjunction With Immigration Reform Efforts to Secure Border
Washington D.C. - On May 20th, Border Trade Alliance (BTA) founding board member, Samuel F. Vale provided testimony, on the behalf of the BTA, before the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security hearing “Securing the Borders and America’s Points of Entry, What Remains to Be Done“. As the owner/operator of the Starr Camargo Bridge and President of Telemundo 40, in Rio Grande, TX, Mr. Vale joined fellow BTA member Mayor Chad Foster of Eagle Pass and leaders from CBP and ICE, to provide recommendations on security at our land borders and ports of entry.
The movement of goods and people at our borders generates 2 billion dollars a day in economic activity. In order to better ensure our economic and physical security, BTA testified that the Federal government must do more to address the decades old backlog in our Immigration Codes, while providing more adequate annual infrastructure and resource investments at U.S. land ports of entry.
Today, a majority of U.S. land ports are overburdened by the combination of vast federal security operations with massive increases in cross-border trade and travel volumes at U.S. border crossings. President Obama’s plans to successfully achieve comprehensive immigration reform hinge on the government’s ability to improve the secure and efficient facilitation of legitimate trade and travel at our nations borders.
The following is BTA’s written testimony submitted to the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and Border Security on May 20th: Read More →
