But before you get your hopes up expecting to see trucks full of U.S. goods exiting our land borders to store shelves in Canada and Mexico, remember those long lines of trucks still waiting in the summer sun to enter the U.S.  Those hours-long waits are likely to continue and certainly are unlikely to boost your confidence in the government’s commitment to robust international trade. 

And keep in mind that immigration enforcement resources are increasing at the nation’s borders, with the president just signing into law legislation that directs over 1,000 new Border Patrol personnel to the southwest border.  These efforts to prevent contraband and illegal crossers from entering the U.S. could also hold ramifications for the people and cargo leaving the country.

Since 1996, Congress has enacted legislation requiring immigration and visa-overstay enforcement through an immigrant exit control system for foreign travelers leaving the U.S to match the enhanced immigration entry process. An immigration exit program to biometrically (fingerprint) verify the exit of foreign visa holders and others foreign travelers (not including border crossing card holders and other “trusted travelers”) can surely increase immigration enforcement. 

How will the two initiatives of improved border commerce and better immigration enforcement work together without harming border communities’ economies? 

Consider the government’s increased commitment to outbound smuggling investigations with roving inspection operations for trucks and private vehicles headed south to Mexico. The continued in-bound and potential out-bound border-wide traffic jams surely are not what the president had in mind when he cited trade as a key to U.S. economic recovery.

If the Department of Homeland Security is looking to its management of the border entry process for inspiration, then border communities should hold their collective breath when it comes to DHS’ development of the congressionally-mandated immigration exit process.

A border exit system is not a new idea.  Congress first called for the development of an exit control in the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.  In the 14 years since, Congress has reiterated and strengthened  its mandate in various statutes, including the anti-terrorism USA PATRIOT Act, and DHS has struggled to implement it, missing deadlines as it worked out how to design a system to accommodate travelers in the air, sea and (most difficult) land exit environments. 

Yet the mandate remains in statute and Congress requires results.  In the fiscal year 2010 DHS budget bill, Congress called on the department to make quarterly reports on its progress in developing the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology program (US-VISIT by its acronym) for the land borders, leading many to believe that some sort of land border exit program test is coming down the pike.

Border communities in the U.S. have seen their local economies negatively affected by the economic downturn of this Great Recession and the increasing hassle experienced by shoppers and other visitors crossing the border.  Adding another layer of delays to the border crossing experience – this time as travelers attempt to head home – could sink the border economy.

In the pilot tests run by DHS in the air environment, the exit process mirrors the entry process.  It need not be so at the land borders.  With the right mix of technology and political will, the land border implementation of US-VISIT can result in the exit of foreign and U.S. travelers out of the U.S. and into Canada and Mexico without the long lines they all endure coming in.

Technology is the key to ensuring that this worst-case scenario doesn’t come to pass.  A solution exists and the BTA was briefed about it in our El Paso meeting in May.  Forty BTA members saw how a traveler’s departure from the U.S. can be recorded – and biometrically verified (a Congressional requirement) — without interacting with an inspector, or swiping a card, or showing a passport or visa, or even stopping a car, truck, or bus, and that it can be done without busting the government’s budget and squandering tax dollars.  Most critical for border communities, this land exit solution adds no infrastructure or staff at U.S. exit, and adds no inherent congestion, delay, or impediments to trade, commerce or travel by foreign and U.S. travelers.

Any US-VISIT solution for the land borders should be implemented with the best interests of border communities as the top priority.  Replicating the entry process is a non-starter.  Long lines of traffic backups into U.S. communities will be fiercely – and rightly –opposed at a local level and by many in Congress. 

But now we know that those long lines at exit aren’t necessary.  By deploying available technology designed to continue the current unimpeded U.S. exit, not slow it with a new exit process, the government can implement a US-VISIT land exit solution that meets the mandates of Congress, the needs of local communities, and that doesn’t become an impediment to trade and travel.

The BTA endorsed this solution to the secretary of DHS last year.  But decisions have languished for more than a year.  Clearly, the Congress is the motivating force for immigration enforcement and reform.  We invite our members to reach out to  congressional representatives to advocate for an immigration exit solution that brings greater enforcement of visa overstay provisions, while not adding congestion, delay or impediments to trade and commerce along the border. 

Here’s the BTA view:  It is better to advocate a solution that respects border communities’ interests than to oppose any exit solution and risk DHS imposing one that harms our constituents.