Our Shared Border: Success Stories in U.S.-Mexico Collaboration

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OUR SHARED BORDER:SUCCESS STORIES IN U.S.-MEXICO COLLABORATION

AWARDS FOR U.S.-MEXICO CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION AND INNOVATION A PUBLICATION OF THE BORDER RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP


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OUR SHARED BORDER:SUCCESS STORIES IN U.S.-MEXICO COLLABORATION

AWARDS FOR U.S.-MEXICO CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION AND INNOVATION A PUBLICATION OF THE BORDER RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP


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OUR SHARED BORDER: SUCCESS STORIES IN U.S.-MEXI CO COLLABORATION

Author: Robert Donnelly

Editors: Carlos de la Parra, Erik Lee, Andrew Selee, and Rick Van Schoik

Preferred citation: Donnelly, Robert. Our Shared Border: Success Stories in U.S.-Mexico Collaboration,

Washington, D.C.: Border Research Partnership/Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars,

January, 2012.

ISBN# 1-933549-72-6

Cover image: The Rio Grande/Rio Bravo at sunset. Photo taken at Big Bend National Park in Texas. (Photo

by Ian Shive/Getty Images)

Cover design by Diana Micheli, Woodrow Wilson Center

Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars

One Woodrow Wilson Plaza

1300 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004-3027

www.wilsoncenter.org

2012, Border Research Partnership/Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars


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CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 2

NTRODUCTON 3

CHAPTER 1/A Cultural Crossroads for the United States and Mexico 11

CHAPTER 2 / The California-Baja California Border Master Plan 15

CHAPTER 3 / Environmental Education without Borders 19

CHAPTER 4/ Regional Cooperation through Global Education 23

CHAPTER 5 / A Shared Vision for Arizona and Sonora, 2011-2015 27

CHAPTER 6 / Achieving Cross-Border Efciency in the 21st Century 31

CHAPTER 7 / Expansion of the Lukeville Port of Entry 35

CHAPTER 8 / Giving Hope to Children Suffering from Cancer 39

CHAPTER 9 / Innovations in Bi-National Restoration Efforts: 43Seeking Common Ground on which to Restore the Lower Colorado River

CHAPTER 10/ San Diego-Tijuana Border Region: Los Laureles/ 47Goat Canyon Transborder Trash-Tracking Study

CHAPTER 11 / Texas-Nuevo Len State-to-State Environmental Cooperation 51

CHAPTER 12/ Words of Encouragement from a Kennedy 55

APPENDX A /About the Author, Selection Committee, and Wilson Center 57


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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

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Our Shared Bordercompiles twelve extraordinary success stories in cross-

border collaboration between the United States and Mexico. We would like

frst to thank these twelve innovative experiences or enabling this publication,

as well as or making the Awards or U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Collaboration

and Innovation such a success in this the initiatives inaugural year.

We would also like to single out or special appreciation the ollowing

our experiences that are winners o the Awards:

A Cultural Crossroads or the United States and Mexico

Museo de Arte de Ciudad Jurez and El Paso Museum of Art (New Mexico,

Texas, and Chihuahua)

Baja Caliornia-Caliornia Border Master Plan

California Department of Transportation, District 11 and Secretara de

Infraestructura y Desarrollo Urbano de Baja California (California and

Baja California)

Environmental Education without Borders

Proyecto bio-regional de educacin ambiental and Proyecto fronterizo deeducacin ambiental (California and Baja California)

Regional Cooperation through Global Education

Arizona Model United Nations Club (Sonora and Arizona)

Gratitude is also due the Awards eight other fnalists, whose excellent

entries helped to diversiy the issue areas addressed in this publication and

improved it. Tank you to these fnalists whose entries represented mod-

els o bi-national collaboration rom the states o Arizona, Caliornia, Baja

Caliornia, Nuevo Len, and exas. Additionally, we would like to thank

the 33 other applicants whose interest contributed in large part to the suc-

cessul dissemination o the initiative throughout the border region. We

hope that you are able to participate in next years call or entries.

Our bi-national selection committee, chaired by the Honorable Jos

Guadalupe Osuna Milln, the Governor o the State o Baja Caliornia, and

ormer state Sen. Denise Moreno Ducheny o Caliornia, was indispensable

in narrowing the 41 total entries we received to a manageable number, and

then in choosing the fnal our awardees. Tank you to the two chairs and

19 committee members or gladly giving o your time, energy, expertise,

and prestige to the Awards. We hope that we can count on your member-

ship on the committee going orward. For a ull list o selection committee

members, please see Appendix A.

Te Council o State Governments-West has been an invaluable part-

ner o the Border Research Partnership, and special gratitude is due Edgar

Ruiz, the councils executive director. His support has been essential to the

success o the Award and o this publication. Tank you, Edgar.

We would also like to thank the XXIX Border Governors Conerence

(BGC) and, especially, the conerences 2011 chair, Governor Osuna

Milln, and its vice-chair, the Honorable Susana Martnez o New Mexico.

Te support o the BGC and o the governors representatives was instru-

mental in enabling the Awards ceremony to be held in conjunction with this

years conerence in Ensenada. We would especially like to thank Lic. Juan

intos Funcke, Governor Osuna Mil lns representative to the conerence.

Finally, we would like to thank our ellow Border Research Partnership

members or their hard work throughout this year-long process.

Congratulations! Enhorabuena!

Te Border Research Partnership


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Bi-national collaboration occurs in virtually all areas ofthe U.S.-Mexico relationship, yet it is especially feltat the two countries shared border. The border is where

the bulk of bi-national trade takes place80 percent of

two-way merchandise trade crosses overlandand this

necessitates coordination on transportation ows, risk-

segmentation, and infrastructure planning. The border is

also home to shared watersheds and ecosystems, which

demand intense levels of bi-national collaboration given

the serious threats posed by pollution, drought, and other

environmental dangers. The nearly 2,000-mile expanse of

the border is also where unprecedented advances in U.S.-

Mexico security cooperation are happeningefforts that

recognize that the shared challenge of cartel violence can-

not be resolved by either country alone.

Local governments, institutions, and organizations drive collaborationbetween the United States and Mexico. In both countries, local entities

working toward common goals bridge the border in ways that national cap-

itals cannot. And their eorts build trust that resonates throughout the bi-

national relationship, advancing policy consensus among state and ederal

actors. At the same time, collaboration inspires solutions that are requently

creative and innovative, since they are designed with unique insights into

regional capacities by stakeholders invested in their long-term success. For

both countries, local-to-local collaboration yields benefts that would be

unobtainable rom purely top down or unilateral approaches.

Our Shared Bordercelebrates success stories in cross-border collaborationat the local and state levels. Te goal o this publication is to honor and en-

INTRODUCTION/The Importance of Collaboration and Innovation

courage these eorts, as well as to urther the programming, public exposure,

and sense o pride o the people and organizations that stand behind them.

Additionally, we hope to provide examples o collaboration that may be repli-

cable elsewhere along the border. By highlighting these vibrant, creative, and

innovative experiences, we also seek to tell a counter-narrative to requent

media portrayals that paint the border as a region awash in drug tracking,

cartel violence, and environmental despoliation. Tough these are very real

concerns, we consider the successes spotlighted here to be equally important

news stories, and we hope that this publication and the awards initiative it

springs rom represent appropriate tributes to these good eorts.

o be sure, ederal-level policymaking to address border challenges has

been remarkable and unprecedented during the administrations o President

Felipe Caldern and President Barack Obama. In May 2010, both govern-

ments issued a Declaration o the 21st Century Border, ocially agreeing

or the frst time on the need or joint eorts to improve the management

o the U.S.-Mexico border. Te declaration calls or the modernization o

port inrastructure, the intelligent risk-segmentation o travelers and goods,

and the disruption o contraband tracking, with the goal o making the

border more economically competitive and saer or legitimate commerce

and travelers.

Te 21st Century Border is just one example o increased bi-national co-

ordination to meet border challenges. Other prominent examples exist in

the area o security cooperation, such as a joint initiative that strengthens

border cities against organized crime through community development.

And in trade, another recent ederal-to-ederal advance is this years truck-

ing breakthrough, which will enable cross-border deliveries by Mexicanmotor carriers.

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Yet it is at the local and state levels where the most innovative solutionsto cross-border challenges are originating. Tis innovation is happening

because border-region residents are highly invested in the improvement o

the border, and, conversely, because they are the citizens most directly im-

pacted by the consequences o bad border policies.

Local innovations beneft the border, since they inspire resh approaches

at the ederal level, improve existing policies, and oer solutions to unan-

ticipated challenges. Te Caliornia-Baja Caliornia Border Master Plan,

or example, shows how an innovative model or state-level inrastructure

coordination can inorm a new ederal approach to sub-regional port-o-

entry planning. Similarly, two other inrastructure-related success storiesin Our Shared Borderdemonstrate how local ingenuity has led to improved

operations at the Lukeville and Nogales West ports o entry, both o which

are on the Arizona-Sonora rontier. Unanticipated challenges also prompt

innovative solutions. For example, sister-city institutions have reacted to

stricter U.S. entry requirements by collaborating more closely with one an-

other, as shown in the joint exhibitions hosted by the El Paso and Ciudad

Jurez art museums, as well as in the cross-border philanthropy o ijuanas

Castro Limn Foundation.

Tese and many other experiences demonstrate tangible benefts rom

innovative cross-border collaboration, yet the process o arriving at inno-vative solutions can also bring benefts. Creative problem-solving among

local stakeholders strengthens civil society on both sides o the physical

boundary, as shown in the example o the joint ijuana-San Diego project,

Environmental Education without Borders, and in the cross-border out-

reach eorts o the Arizona Model United Nations. Tis process o innova-

tion also helps establishes issue coalitions that rally dierent constituen-

cies around a common cause, gathering collective strength rom otherwise

unlikely allies. An example o this coalition-building is the Yuma Crossing

National Heritage Area Corp., which has merged security and environmen-

tal goals to restore a tract o the Colorado River, and whose profle in Our

Shared Bordermay be instructive or other challenges at other points alongthe border.

By bringing stakeholders together to debate issues o mutual concern,

defne priorities and goals, and determine strategies or action, innovative

processes o bi-national collaboration also provide an important outlet or

the private sector, channeling rustrations over the eectiveness o ederal

border policy into actionable plans and recommendations. Tese processes

provide durable platorms or business interests to work out the logistical,

transportation, and other challenges that aect commerce, and they also

help to align bi-national agendas related to joint economic prosperity. Our

Shared Bordereatures several cases o the private sectors role in developinginnovative solutions to cross-border challenges. However, one example that

merits special mention is the Comisin Sonora Arizona/Arizona-Mexico

Commission, which or more than hal a century has enhanced interstate

economic competitiveness, by bringing together private-sector stakeholders

and government ocials.

Te ollowing are summaries o the twelve experiences that make up

Our Shared Border.

Proles in Innovative Cross-Border Collaboration

Not surprisingly, given the importance o people and trade ows at the

border, three o the experiences profled in Our Shared Border involve

eorts to increase capacities at ports o entry and coordinate inrastruc-

ture planning. One o these, the California-Baja California Border

Master Plan brings together Mexican and U.S. ocials to evaluate and

prioritize transportation and port-o-entry projects, applying a standard-

ized and open process that signals a departure rom the political wheel-

ing-and-dealing o the past. angibly, the plan is credited with helping

to advance the authorization o the Otay Mesa II port o entry in San


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AWARDS FOR U.S.-MEXICO CROSS-BORDER COOPERATION AND INNOVATION A PUBLICATION OF THE BOR DER RESEARCH PARTNERSHIP

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Diego County and has inspired several ederally directed regional master

planning processes along the length o the borderat El Paso-Ciudad

Jurez-Las Cruces, between Arizona and Sonora, and among exas and

its Mexican neighbors.

At the Arizona-Sonora border, the expansion of the Lukeville/

Sonoyta port of entryrepresents another unique success story, given that

Mexican investors provided initial investment or the project, a frst-o-its

kind private-public partnership also entailing state and ederal unding.

Further east along the Arizona-Sonora rontier, the bi-nationalNogales

Corridor Working Group has successully advocated or increased pro-

cessing capacities at the key Nogales West/Mariposa commercial cross-

ing, the conduit or US$20 billion in annual U.S.-Mexico maquila tradeand the entry point or hal o the winter vegetables consumed yearly in

the United States.

Environmental challenges also demand intense bi-national collabora-

tion, since they overlap both sides o the border, and because they pose

especially grave threats to regional ecologies, in orms such as industrial

pollution, deorestation, and drought. Our Shared Borderincludes our suc-

cess stories that address these and other challenges, ranging rom a exas-

Nuevo Len agreement to fght pollution to a wetlands restoration project

in the Lower Colorado River Valley. Tough the our cases address distinct

issues along dierent points o the border, a common appeal among themis that governments, institutions, and citizens recognize the trans-border

regions ecological symbiosis and that sustainable environmental policies be

implemented that reect this.

One o the our cases is Environmental Education without Borders,

which uses innovative methods to raise ecological awareness among re-

gional schoolchildren, teachers, and community members. Coordinated by

the San Diego-based Bio-Regional Environmental Education Project and

ijuanas Border Environmental Education Project, the program has since

1991 taught bajacalifornianos and San Diegans how their actions directly

impact the environment. Our Shared Borderalso profles the Los Laureles/

Goat Canyon ransborder rash racking Study, frst-o-its-kind re-

search that monitors waste ows through the bi-national ijuana River

Valley, in order to generate the scientifc data needed or tougher enorce-

ment against illicit dumpsites.

A third success story is symbolized in the work o the Yuma Crossing

National Heritage Area Corp., which since 2007 has worked to reclaim

wetlands around the Lower Colorado River near Yuma, AZ. Te reclamation

eort is unique given its twin goals o making the area sa e against the crimi-

nal gangs that prey on border-crossers, while at the same time restoring the

area by clearing invasive vegetation and reintroducing native trees. A ourth

case is the exas-Nuevo Len State-to-State Environmental CooperationAgreement, which since 1997 has enabled sustained agency-to-agency ex-

changes in technology, technical expertise, and training, in an eort to com-

bat shared environmental threats, such as air and water pollution.

Our Shared Border also spotlights the humanitarian eorts o

ijuanas Castro Limn Foundation and San Diegos Border Angels.

Since 2004, the Foundation has unded Baja Caliornias only pediatric

cancer treatment center, serving children rom around Mexico, as well

as some patients rom the United States, while establishing partnerships

with U.S.-based philanthropies and hospitals. Border Angels is a non-

proft that since the 1980s has provided shelter and relie services orhomeless migrants in San Diego County, one o the border regions most

marginalized populations.

wo other success stories involve innovative educational and cultural

exchange programs between the United States and Mexico. Te Arizona

Model United Nations Club is a unique example o cross-border collabora-

tion between young people in Arizona and Sonora. Based at the University

o Arizona, the c lub is unique among Model United Nations in that it holds

its mock diplomacy proceedings in both Spanish and English, and students

rom the two states share committee assignments. Also profled in Our


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Shared Borderare the collaborative eorts oTe El Paso Museum of Art

and theMuseo de Arte de Ciudad Jurez. Since 2008, the two museumshave held simultaneous exhibitions showing border-region artists, widening

the exposure o these artists and increasing the viewing publics accessibility

to art and culture in both cities.

A fnal profle spotlights the long-running success o theArizona-

Mexico Commission and the Comisin Sonora Arizona, which since the

late 1950s have worked together to advance the mutual interests o the two

states. More recently, the commissions have authored their frst long-term

strategic plan, A Shared Vision for Arizona-Sonora, 2011-2015, a roadmap

or growth oriented around our key areas: economic competitiveness, en-

vironmental sustainability, public security, and quality o lie. Tis kind oin-depth strategic planning is the gold standard or what may be possible

elsewhere along the border.

We invite you to read the twelve profles, which were compiled as part

o the Awards or U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Cooperation and Innovation,

a new initiative that documents extraordinary cases o bi-national collabo-

ration by border-state non-profts and government agencies. Te Awards

and this publication are coordinated by the Border Research Partnership,

comprising the North American Center or ransborder Studies at Arizona

State University, El Colegio de la Frontera Norte, and the Woodrow

Wilson Center Mexico Institute, and are made possible by unding romthe Council o State Governments-West and the United States Agency or

International Development.

The U.S.-Mexico Border: A New Frontier

Te border is where our two countries join but also where they divide. For

generations, this latter description ft each countrys dominant perception

o the borderas a hard line marking territorial sovereignty. But now is

the time, in an era o unprecedented cooperation yet also o ongoing shared

threats, or us to update our understanding o the border, and to conceive o

it as a new rontier or both the United States and Mexico.

Physically, the border is a new rontier because it is the terrain upon

which unprecedented bi-national collaborations are today taking placeto

fght organized crime, to acilitate trade, and to manage the environment.

Metaphorically, the border is a new rontier because it holds the promise

to a better economic uture or both countries, and because it suggests a

potential, especially in terms o enhanced competitiveness, which lies ar

beyond what is currently realized.

Te time is now to conceive o our shared border as an untapped eco-

nomic opportunity. Our two countries are major reciprocal trading part-

nersMexico is the second-leading destination or U.S. exports, and theUnited States is Mexicos frstwith approximately US$400 billion in bi-

lateral merchandise trade per year. Yet even this fgure does not adequately

reect the deep economic interdependence that exists between our two

countries. Consider, instead, that 40 percent o the content o U.S. imports

rom Mexico is produced in the United States, susta ining jobs in the United

States during a period o record unemployment.1 Or take into account that

a typical vehicle crosses North American borders seven times beore fnally

rolling o an assembly linea act that underscores the reliance o North

American manuacturing on properly unctioning ports o entry. Tese ex-

amples reect the high degree o integration between the U.S. and Mexicaneconomies and demonstrate why it is in the best sel-interest o each coun-

try to optimize the borders potential, by improving port inrastructure and

intelligently risk-segmenting cargo. At the same time, the protracted global

downturn suggests a urther need to maximize the borders economic po-

tential, in order to sharpen North Americas competitive edge against other

world blocs.

So how do policymakers, the public, and the private sector get rom

herean antiquated defnition o the border as a ha rd line that d ivides

to therea modern idea that sees its potential or joining the two countries


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and two economies? A frst step may lie in redefning the border beyond

the immediate U.S.-Mexico line and re-visualizing it out. Tis means

extending the presence o the border and o its security unction away

rom the physical border, where eorts have typically been concentrated

and where inrastructure and stang are chronically beyond capacity.

Redefning the border in such a way enables a more ecient distribution

o screening and inspection activities along a goods route to marketat

its point o origin, its ultimate destination, and in-between. Tis not only

expedites commerce, but it also enhances security by shrinking the hay-

stack, preemptively screening legitimate goods beore their arrival at the

physical line and allowing enorcement resources to be applied more e-

ectively aga inst threats.

Achieving this means intelligently risk-segmenting cargo, through such

trusted-shipper programs as the Customs and rade Partnership Against

errorism (C-PA). It also means making concomitant improvements to bor-

der inrastructure to incentivize participation in such programs and to decrease

economically costly wait-times. Te work o the Nogales Corridor Working

Group, which is profled in Our Shared Border, is illuminating in this respect.

Extending the border out also means rethinking the region around

the border and perceiving it as an area o requent exchange and interac-

tion. Communities and amilies on both sides o the border depend on each

other. Natural resources are truly shared by both sides. Few decisions canbe made on one side, which do not truly impact the other. Conceiving o

how the whole region can work together is as important as knowing where

the ocial dividing line is placed.

Challenges and Conclusions

o be sure, many challenges stand in the way o a modern redefnition o

the border. In either country, isolationist politics can dampen enthusiasm

or cross-border collaboration and breed protectionist sentiment, and these

concerns may grow as campaigns gear up or the 2012 presidential elec-

tions. Additionally, in the United States, the legislative caucuses that repre-

sent the U.S.-Mexico border states and border districts are small, with only

eight senators and ten representatives, or just under 3 percent o the U.S.

House o Representatives. For proponents o a modernized border, the cau-

cus small size poses the challenge o attracting greater numbers o interior

lawmakers to vote in avor o related legislation, when these lawmakers may

not perceive a direct beneft or their constituencies or may have negative

perceptions about the border.2 Finally, bureaucratic inertia and the opposi-

tion o entrenched special interests can present obstacles to transorming

mindsets about how the border should work.

Yet these barriers should not inhibit a rethinking o the border or impede

the advances in U.S.-Mexico cooperation that are today taking place at the

border. Te border is the site or new collaborations in trade acilitation,

security cooperation, and environmental management, as well as in educa-

tional exchange, arts and culture, and health and philanthropy. Moreover,

as Our Shared Bordershows in twelve diverse examples, the border is also a

ertile terrain or productive collaborations among local and state non-pro-

its, institutions, and governments, with these eorts resonating benefcially

throughout the bilateral relationship.

At an event at the Woodrow Wilson Center in November 2009, then-

Deputy Assistant Secretary or Mexico, Canada, and NAFA Roberta S.Jacobson said, Tere is very little useul distinction between bilateral or-

eign policy and border policy. Jacobsons statement underscores the signif-

cance o the border in the bi-national relationship and suggests that it is at

the border where the benefts o the relationship are, in many ways, most

visibly expressed. Going orward, policymakers, the public, and lawmakers

may want to consider the borders undamental place in the bilateral rela-

tionship in a re-thinking o the regions signifcanceas a new rontier or

the economic uture o both countries and as a catalyst or enhanced North

American economic integration.


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NOTES

1 For both statistics, see Christopher E. Wilson, Working Together: Economic

Ties Between the United States and Mexico, Washington, D.C.: Woodrow

Wilson Center, November, 2011.

2 In act, many interior districts beneft greatly rom trade with Mexico, and

a recent publication rom the Woodrow Wilson Center Mexico Institute

discusses the economic benefts o U.S.-Mexico trade to non-border statesand districts. See: Christopher E. Wilson, Working Together: Economic Ties

Between the United States and Mexico, Washington, D.C.: Woodrow Wilson

Center, November, 2011.


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A Cultural

Crossroads for theUnited States

and Mexico


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In many ways, art expresses with greater force sub- jects that in the more neutral tones of policy analysisrisk understatement. The violence aficting parts of the

U.S.-Mexico border this decade is one such subject, at-tracting the critical gaze of Mexican and U.S. artists and

powerfully reshaping predominant understandings of the

borderlands.

Along the U.S.-Mexico boundary, no other region has struggled more

intensely with the threat o this violence than Ciudad Jurez-El Paso.

Ciudad Jurez has been the site o more than one-fth o the nearly 40,000

drug-related killings that have occurred in Mexico since 2006. Violence

has not spilled over onto the U.S. side, as El Paso remains one o the saest

cities o its size in the United States. But traditional sister-city commercial

and amily linkages have rayed. Many neighborhoods in Jurez have beendepleted, and thousands have crossed the border to live and do business in

El Paso, whose population has increased 31 percent since 2006. 1

For regional institutions, the violence-spawned demographic trends

have created new challenges in serving bi-national publics, especially amid

todays thicker post-9/11 borders, says Michael omor, the Director o

the El Paso Museum o Art, a winner with the Museo de Arte de Ciudad

Jurez o this years Awards or U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Cooperation and

Innovation. Art museums ace the challenge o designing programming

amid changing demographics. We also ace the challenge o hosting art-

CHAPTER 1 /

A Cultural Crossroads for theUnited States and MexicoThe El Paso Museum of Art and the Ciudad Jurez Museo de Arte

ists who may not be able to travel to the United States. In act, some o the

artists whose work we show are unable to visit the Museum, omor says.

o meet these challenges, the two museums have collaborated to jointly

host simultaneous bi-national art exhibitions, showcasing the work oborderlands artists on themes such as violence, trade, and cultural hybridity.

Te innovative collaboration began in 2008 with the juried exhibition, Art

Binational/Binacional de Arte, which showed pieces by artists living within

a 300-mile radius o the Ciudad Jurez-El Paso metropolitan area. wo

years later, the exhibition Border Biennial/Bienial Fronterizo put on display

contributions rom artists rom all 10 o the border states. Curators outside

o the borderlands have taken notice o the exhibition series, too, and se-

lections rom the latter collection have been shown elsewhere in Mexico,

under the sponsorship o the countrys national arts institute INBA.

Te biannual exhibition series provides a much-needed venue to showthe work o borderlands artists, says Rosa Elva Vzquez, the Director o

the Ciudad Jurez Museo de Arte. Our objective in creating the Bienial

Fronteriza de Arte was to show the work o artists rom the border and

also to gain their insights into the region, to know their outlooks and un-

derstandings o the border, she says. At the same time, the exhibitions are

equally important or viewing publics on both sides o the Rio Grande/Rio

Bravo. In the exhibition, (we) show those works that we eel are particu-

larly relevant to the experiences o the residents o Ciudad Jurez and El

Paso, Vzquez adds. And we ask them to perceive the artis ts reality, to see

OPENING REMARKS


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OPENING REMARKS

things rom the artists point o view and, in so doing, to fnd something o

themselves in the work.

Te decision to show the concurrent exhibitions was an innovation born

o the travel delays and tougher ID requirements o todays thicker post-

9/11 border, omor says. Te best answer that we could come up with was

to show works simultaneously in two dierent cities with artists in both

places, he says. (Ciudad Jurez-El Paso) is a unifed metropolitan area; the

challenge has been the international border.

o make his point, omor notes how border enorcement practices have

changed over his lietime. When I was growing up in El Paso, Jurez was

an extension o the city. People moved back and orth at the border But

when I returned to the region [ater working as a curator and director at

museums on the East Coast], it was shocking to me how complicated it was

to get across the border, he says.

o be sure, todays border is dierent rom yesterdays. Western

Hemisphere ravel Initiative requirements and time-consuming south-

north wait-times or motorists have inhibited the cross-border ows needed

or productive people-to-people cultural exchanges, omor notes. Yet, the

thicker border has also constructively challenged institutions, driving the

kind o innovative bi-national collaboration evident in the Border Biennial

exhibition series and not yet dampening artistic inspiration. Even with

ences and ortifcations bui lt by Mexico City and Washington, D.C., a new

healthy cultural environment is growing along the frontera, omor says.

Vzquez agrees and, logistical reasons aside, notes that the concurrent

exhibitions serve as opportunities or artistic and cultural exchange be-

tween the two sister-cities. At the border, the intersection o cultures is

inevitable, and it is essential or institutions to oster dialogues that spark a

cultural energy and dynamism and that can lead to new ideas, stimulating

new opportunities or cross-border and cross-cultural art, she says.

Ciudad Jurez has Mexicos highest murder rate, registering at 133

per 100,000 people last year. Te deaths have largely been the result o

fghting between two main organized crime groups, the hometown Jurez

organization and the outside Sinaloa organization, which have been bat-

tling or control o lucrative contraband-tracking routes into the United

States. From 2007 through 2009, violence between the two groups led the

Mexican government to deploy large numbers o soldiers to the city in a

bid to restore order. However, the military operations did not bring about

the reduction in violence that had been hoped or, and, starting in early

2010, authorities began to scale back the deployments and concentrate e-

orts on strengthening and reorming the local police orces. o tackle the

underlying structural actors contributing to the organized crime violence,

the Mexican ederal government has also invested resources to address the

citys chronic underemployment and rising drug consumptionunder the

ramework o the joint U.S.-Mexico security cooperation strategy known

as Beyond Mrida. And related campaigns are underway to reassert citizen

control over the citys public spaces and institutions.

For El Pasoans, the violence ortunately has not spilled over into their

neighborhoods, and exas westernmost city remains one o the saest o its

size in the United States. Yet the city has not escaped the eects o the crisis

aicting Jurez. Economic and social bonds between the two traditional

sister-cities have rayed, as shoppers ear to travel to Jurez and many Jurez

businesses are shuttered. Large numbers ojuarensesare also resettling in El

Paso, possibly creating new challenges in service provision or the city. And

El Pasoans with amily in Jurez may ace emotional stresses out o ear

or relatives saety. Still, the crisis has also accentuated the need or cross-

border solidarity between the two citiesa solidarity maniested in col-

laborations such as the kind undertaken by the two museums. Given the

crime situation in Jurez, collaborative eorts between the two museums

represent essential expressions o solidarity, Vzquez says.

NOTES

1 2006 population: 609,415 2011 population: 800,647



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The California-Baja

California BorderMaster Plan


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he U.S.-Mexico border is the worlds busiest land cross-ing.1 In 2010, an average of 665,142 people crossed theborder per day.2 And about one third of this trafc hap-

pened at the California-Baja California border.3

The highvolume of crossings has prompted enhanced long-term

infrastructure coordination between the two statesnot

only to accommodate existing people and trade ows but

also to anticipate future trends, such as regional population

changes. To meet this need, the California-Baja California

Border Master Plan (CA-BC BMP) was established in 2006

to coordinate the planning and delivery of port-of-entry

(POE) and transportation infrastructure projects at the

two states border. The CA-BC BMP and its two chief co-

ordinators in the United States and Mexico, the CaliforniaDepartment of Transportation (CalTrans) in San Diego, and

Baja Californias Secretara de Infraestructura y Desarrollo

Urbano (SIDUE), based in Mexicali, are winners of this

years Awards for U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Cooperation

and Innovation.

Te CA-BC BMP sets standardized criteria or project evaluation and

prioritization and conducts strategic orecasting and analysis o regional

transportation needs and trends. Under the plan, all transportation and

POE projects are evaluated according to set variables, such as how likely

CHAPTER 2/ The California-Baja California

Border Master PlanCalifornia Department of Transportation, District 11 and Secretara de

Infraestructura y Desarrollo Urbano (SIDUE)

a project will ease congestion, its cost eectiveness, and its viability and

compatibility with existing highways and roads. Te plan provides a consis-

tent methodology or project prioritization and helps to level the playing

feld, giving all projects the chance to be merit-judged in a transparent andequitable process that benefts public policy, says plan co-manager Sergio

Pallares o Caltrans District 11 in San Diego.

Part o the reason the plan is innovative, Pallares says, is because it pro-

vides a clear planning ramework not just or regional transportation proj-

ects but also or POEs, which historically have lacked a predictable plan-

ning process. In the old days, there was the perception that POE projects

would get advanced because o the sponsor, Pallares says. Tere was no

known rationale or the advancement o a project beyond the clout o the

sponsor. Te CA-BC BMP, however, levels the play ing feld so that less well-

unded projects have an equal voice. It seeks to bring a systematic approachto border transportat ion and POE projects on both sides o the border.

At the same time, Pallares hastens to add that the plan is designed to

help guide policymakers and is not meant to override established trans-

portation planning processes in either country or at any level. Te Master

Plan brings together key ederal, state, and municipal ocials rom both

countries and was established with unding rom the U.S.-Mexico Joint

Working Committee, a bi-national technical group advancing border inra-

structure coordination. Te CA-BC BMPs structure includes two bodies, a

Policy Advisory Committee, whose membership includes agency principals,



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as well as a echnical Working Group, made up o operations and inra-

structure planning experts.

Te CA-BC Border Master Plan has brought both direct and indirect

benefts to the Caliornia-Baja Caliornia border region. It helped spur

ederal approval in 2010 o the new Otay Mesa East port o entry, which

is intended to ease pressure on the now-saturated San Ysidro and Otay

Mesa I ports arther west. Te authorization o the new port by the State

Department was notable considering it was granted only ten months ater

being ormally requested, when such permitting typically takes years to

obtain. Speed o permitting is o the essence or the San Diego-ijuana

region. According to a study by the San Diego Association o Governments

(SANDAG), congestion and delays in San Diego County cost the U.S. and

Mexican economies US$7.2 billion in lost gross output in 2007, as well as

more than 62,000 jobs.

In Baja Caliornia, the Border Master Plan is credited with helping to

secure ederal unds or inrastructure improvement projects, says plan co-

manager Arq. Carlos Lopez o the states Ministry or Inrastructure and

Urban Development, known by its initials as SIDUE. Te plan has given

us a serious and well-thought-out document that we have been able to

present to ederal authorities in Mexico City, he says. It has helped us to

tap unding rom the Secretariat o Communications and ransportation

(SC), INDABBIN (Mexicos General Services Administration counter-

part), and other agencies, whose participation was included in the drat-

ing o the document. Additionally, the plan eatured prominently in Baja

Caliornia Governor Jos Guadalupe Osuna Millans State Development

Plan, the administrations centerpiece policy strategy outline, helping build

consensus at the municipal and local levels.

Te Border Master Plan process has brought about indirect benefts as

well, says SANDAGs Cheryl Mason, one o the consultants who worked on

the plan. It has strengthened existing relationships among regional stake-

holders and has helped to sensibly align transportation planning objectives

between both states, she says. I think that the structure really did help

with the collaboration and cooperation among the dierent partners. It was

very exciting to see all these partners work together to determine criteria or

projects, she says.

Te Border Master Plan has inspired similar regional transportation

planning eorts along the length o the border. And bi-national planning

processes are underway in other border sub-regions, such as at El Paso-

Ciudad Jurez-Las Cruces, between Arizona and Sonora, and at Laredo-

Coahuila/Nuevo Len/amaulipas in the lower Rio Bravo/Rio Grande

river valley. At the ederal level, the CA-BC BMP has helped to inorm

ederal border policy, as sub-regional master planning processes are sup-

ported within the ramework o the Beyond Mrida U.S.-Mexico security

cooperation agenda. Tat rameworks Pillar III calls or the modernization

o border, port, and transportation inrastructures and processes.

In spite o the success o the Border Master Plan, there are some real

challenges going orward, Pallares says. A principal obstacle is converting

the plan rom a one- or two-time study (an update is being drated now)

into a longer-term and continuous processsomething that requires a ded-

icated unding stream. Absent sucient resources, the CA-BC BMP could

risk obsolescence, he says. Te Master Plan came about rom a need to

prepare or the uture. Tat could happen once again i we lack the unding

needed to help us sustain it, he says.

NOTES

1 http://www.borderplanning.hwa.dot.gov/current_article1.asp

2 http://www.bts.gov/programs/international/transborder/BDR_BC/

BDR_BCQ.html

3 242,906 people cross the Caliorn ia-Baja Caliornia border per day

http://www.borderplanning.fhwa.dot.gov/current_article1.asphttp://www.bts.gov/programs/international/transborder/TBDR_BC/TBDR_BCQ.htmlhttp://www.bts.gov/programs/international/transborder/TBDR_BC/TBDR_BCQ.htmlhttp://www.bts.gov/programs/international/transborder/TBDR_BC/TBDR_BCQ.htmlhttp://www.bts.gov/programs/international/transborder/TBDR_BC/TBDR_BCQ.htmlhttp://www.borderplanning.fhwa.dot.gov/current_article1.asp


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Environmental

Educationwithout Borders


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Changing societies means transforming individuals. Andeducation, by teaching the tools, outlooks, and per-sonal strategies that enable people to lead higher-quality

lives, is a key catalyst in this process. At the U.S.-Mexicoborder, environmental education means not only instruct-

ing students and teachers on regional ecological threats

water scarcity, climate change, and industrial pollutionbut

also getting people to see themselves as integral parts of

a transborder ecosystem that overlaps political boundar-

ies. Through such consciousness-raising, individuals begin

to see how they t within local ecosystems and how their

behavior directly affects the environment.

Students learn that they live not only in a watershed but in a bi-na-

tional watershed, and that our two countries are environmentally inter-related and that this interdependence extends beyond the border line,

says Margarita Daz, director o the ijuana-based Proyecto Fronterizo de

Educacin Ambiental, A.C., (PFEA). PFEA and its U.S. partner, Proyecto

Bio-Regional de Educacin Ambiental, A.C., (PROBEA), which is based at

the San Diego Natural History Museum, are winners o this years Awards

or U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Cooperation and Innovation.

Since 1991, the two organizations have run environmental education

programs in Baja Caliornia that teach local educators and youngsters

about the impact their actions have on local ecosystems. Te programs have

benefted thousands o teachers and schoolchildren, and make use o in-

novative curriculums that involve whole communities, PROBEA Director

Doretta Winkelman says. Our place-based and watershed-ocused curric-

ulum provides teachers with training and materials that empower studentsto become responsible stewards o their environment.

Jointly developed lesson plans are tailored or local ecosystems. For ex-

ample, one specialized curriculum teaches ijuana youngsters about their

local coastimportant since many urban kids may never have gotten a

chance to visit the beach, Daz says. And another program, Smart Schools

involves not just students and teachers, but school sta, parents, and com-

munity members to implement greening practices in their schools,

Winkelman notes.

Getting young people to see themselves as cross-border environmental

stewards is par ticularly important in the ijuana River Watershed. Coveringa space one-hal larger than Rhode Island, it spreads rom the oothills o the

Sierra Juarez in Baja Cali ornia to the rivers mouth at Imperial Beach in San

Diego County. Its unique geographythe river ows rom south to north

crossing the international line near ijuanaunderscores the crucial impor-

tance o cross-border environmental collaboration. And it emphasizes the

importance o teaching students their impact on the shared watershed. Tey

understand that theres no border or the environment, Winkelman says.

But PROBEA and PFEA dont just limit their activities to the class-

room. Te organizations provide service learning opportunities through

CHAPTER 3/Environmental Education without BordersProyecto Bio-Regional de Educacin Ambiental (PROBEA)/Proyecto Fronterizo de Educacin

Ambiental, A.C. (PFEA)Desarrollo Urbano (SIDUE)



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trash cleanups and recycling drives that bring together neighbors, students,

and educators throughout Baja Caliornia. o date, the cleanups have

helped remove up to 95 metric tons o garbage, and the 2011 Annual BeachCleanup Day mobilized more than 3,000 people. Weve ocused on envi-

ronmental education not so much as an academic concept but as a service

to the community, says Laura Silvan, PFEAs frst director. Going or-

ward, the educators plan to carry their message o environmental steward-

ship even arther down the peninsula and hope to implement the Smart

Schools program at more and more schools in Baja Caliornia and Baja

Caliornia Sur.

In spite o the typical challenges aced by all teachers, the environmen-tal educators remain motivated, says Winkelman. Like anybody, on some

days well get discouraged, and then on others we learn o someone who

was inuenced by our curriculum and that keeps us going!, she says. Says

educator Karen Levyszpiro, Were motivated because we build bridges

across the border, we build bridges to connect people rom dierent organi-

zations, and we build bridges to connect teachers.



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Regional

Cooperationthrough Global

Education


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he Arizona Model United Nations Club brings to-gether Arizona and Sonora high school students togain new perspectives on world affairs, learn about their

systems of government, and make friendships that can

last a lifetime. The club transcends the divisions that you

might expect between Arizona and Sonora, and students

gain new perspectives from one another. Its really inspir-

ing to see a group of young people who are so motivated

and who have such an impressive knowledge of interna-

tional relations and politics, says James Vancel, the clubs

Secretary General.

Based at the University o Arizona, the bi-national club is a winner o this

years Awards or U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Cooperation and Innovation,

and is unique among Model UNs. Proceedings are conducted bilingually,and students can participate in a language beside their native one. Te

club gives Arizona students rom Phoenix or ucson an opportunity to

practice their Spanish, and it gives Mexican studentssome traveling up to

nine hours to attend sessionsa chance to use their English in a structured

setting, Vancel says.

In the clubs sessions, Sonorans and Arizonans sit on the same commit-

tees, perorming duties that simulate multilateral diplomacy, while enhanc-

ing critical thinking skills and knowledge o international aairs. Its not

just an exercise in mock diplomacy but an exercise in real diplomacy at the

local level, says Francisco Lara-Garca, who served as the clubs Director o

Spanish Programs rom 2008-2010.

Founded in 1961 at the University o Arizonas Department o Political

Science, the club had been limited to only U.S. studentsmainly high

schoolers rom the ucson areaor its frst our decades. In 2000, how-

ever, that changed when the club invited Sonoran students to participate,

and the frst bi-national meetings were held that year, ollowed by simulta-

neously interpreted bilingual sessions starting in 2009. Te bilingual pro-

gram teaches students about the cultural diversity that exists at the border,

says Ariel Sim, the clubs Secretary General in 2010. Te program helps its

participants to see and experience the diverse community that exists along

the Mexican-American border. Tey oten fnd that they are more similar

than dierent, she says. Its an invaluable tool to create a positive eeling

within the border community among youth, she says. At annual conerences, students participate in simulated sessions that

deepen their understanding o diplomacy as they collaborate to fnd solu-

tions to tricky world problems. Te sessions also encourage diverse view-

points, as Mexican and U.S. studentssometimes sharing opinions some-

times divergingsit on the same committees.

While the annual conerence is an intellectual simulation o the United

Nations, it is also a social space where students and educators rom both

side o the border gather to get to know one another and share perspectives.

In act, the club hosts a barbecue and dance at the annual conerence so del-

CHAPTER 4 /Regional Cooperation through Global EducationArizona Model United Nations



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egates can meet new riends in a collegial setting. In many cases, riendships

have endured beyond high school, strengthening, in a small way, cross-

border community relations, Lara-Garca says. AzMUN also advances ex-changes between cross-border educators, and the club has provided interna-

tional relations curricula or high school teachers in Hermosillo.

For the University o Arizona students who run it, the club also provides

important proessional development opportunities and last year AZMUN

ormalized a Young Proessionals Program with the regional chapter o the

United Nations Association. Te aliation gives outgoing university stu-

dents an opportunity to make valuable contacts and to urther their interest

in diplomacy.

Going orward, Vancel acknowledges that the club, which is entirely

administered by students rom the University o Arizona, aces chal-

lenges. Because the college students cycle out so quickly, graduating

in our or even three years, there is a continuous need to cultivate new

leaders to carry orward the clubs mission. We lose our institutionalmemory every our years, he notes. And there is the high cost o simul-

taneous interpretation and document translation, as well. Nevertheless,

the club is now enjoying perhaps its most successul year, and the 2011

conerence hosted a record 420 delegates, about two-thirds U.S. and a

third Mexican.

Te club is a real model o bi-national collaboration that osters dia-

logue and the on-the-ground lessons in multilateral diplomacy and interna-

tional relations that we are trying to reach in the classroom, says the clubs

aculty adviser, Proessor William J. Dixon o the University o Arizonas

Department o Political Science.



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A Shared Vision for

Arizonaand Sonora,

2011-2015


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Almost any casual conversation about U.S.-Mexico rela-tions is fraught with clich. Its a bad marriage you cantget out of, a pair of Siamese twins joined at the hip, or a

classic love-hate romancesometimes all rolled into one.

But two statesArizona and Sonorahave in a way deed

the stereotype of the two countries as reluctant neighbors.

And in large part the secret to their success has been the

sturdy bi-national framework forged by the Arizona-Mexico

Commission and the Comisin Sonora Arizona. For 52

years, the two commissions have collaborated to advance

the economic well-being and quality of life of the residents

of Arizona and Sonora, bringing state ofcials and private

business together to promote cross-border trade and in-

terstate relations. The commissions ethos is summed up in

a quote from former Arizona Governor Paul J. Fannin, who

said upon its founding in 1959, God made us neighbors, let

us be good neighbors.

More recently, the commissions have drated their frst ever long-term

strategic plan,A Shared Vision for Arizona-Sonora , 2011-2015. Te plan pro-

vides a roadmap or growth oriented around our key issue areas: economic

competitiveness, environmental sustainability, public security, and quality

o lie. (Tese our broad themes or border-wide growth were endorsed at

the 2009 Border Governors Conerence, in Monterrey, Nuevo Len.) Te

purpose oA Shared Vision is to build consensus on a common agenda or

border-region growth rather than advance specifc policy objectives, says

Margie Emmermann, Executive Director, Arizona-Mexico Commission.

A Shared Vision was developed as a means o building consensus, leverag-

ing past successes, and guiding the eorts o Arizona and Sonora in the

implementation o key initiatives, she says.

Consequently, what policy objectives the plan sets are broad, aspira-

tional, and exible. In its Vision or Competitiveness, or example, it

states the need or enhanced economic growth, through higher-quality

jobs in the two states, enhanced cross-border communication inra-

structure, and modernized border crossings. Additionally, it calls or en-

hanced quality o lie or both states citizenst hrough increased educa-

tional opportunities, better public health systems, and the promotion o

artistic, sports, and cultural exchanges. With high levels o violence in

northern Mexico coloring perceptions o the border and spurring spill-

over ears, the plans Vision or Security calls or enhanced interstate

cooperation to reduce crime. On the environment,A Shared Vision calls

or the restoration o shared wildlie habitats, eective water-reuse and

conservation programs, and the promotion o renewable energy sources,

among other goals.

Plan Uno (as A Shared Vision is known in Sonora) is unprecedented

among two U.S. and Mexican border states. And it would not have been

possible without the groundwork established by the two commissions

CHAPTER 5/A Shared Vision for Arizona and Sonora, 2011-2015Arizona-Mexico Commission and Comisin Sonora Arizona



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over the course o the past 50 years, says Carlos Portillo Abril, Executive

Director, Comisin Sonora Arizona. Plan Unowill help sustain the strong

relationship that our two states have historically enjoyed, and we are com-mitted to making the plan a reality.

A Shared Vision was drated through the kind o consultative and

inclusive process that characterizes the commissions overall approach

to addressing shared interstate challenges. Te plan was frst born in

December 2009 at that years second plenary session in Hermosillo,

Sonora. Tere, the two commissions voted on the need or a coordi-

nated strategic vision to promote mutual prosperity and strengthen the

border region, to coincide with the administrations o Governor Janice

Brewer and Governor Guillermo Padrs Elas. Te State o Sonora and

the Comisin Sonora Arizona then ormed worktables oriented aroundthe our key areas, bringing to the table relevant policymakers and the

private sector to develop an initial outline. Ater this step, academic

researchers rom both states, as well as other public- and private-sector

stakeholders, made urther contributions to a frst drat. Finally, the two

commissions ormalized the document, ensuring that it would be a ex-

ible, non-binding, and living document, subject to uture revision and

change as needed. Independent o the policy goals stated in the docu-

ment, the drating process itsel demonstrated the kind o collaborative

and bi-national method the commissions have historically brought to

their work.

Te commissions day-to-day work is a model or bi-national collabora-

tion. wo joint plenary sessions take place annually, with meeting loca-

tions alternating between each state, and 15 committees, made up o busi-nesspeople, public ocials, and non-governmental representatives, meet

throughout the year, drilling down on specifc policy issues. Tis culmi-

nates in the grassroots eorts o our bi-national committees, implementing

key initiatives that make our region mutually prosperous, and is essential

or the continued growth o Arizona and Sonora, states Emmermann.

Part o the two commissions success has been their structured orga-

nizational rameworksomething A Shared Vision makes more robust

by helping to ormalize the decisions made in the dierent committees,

Emmermann notes. And even though the plan is legally non-binding since

actual policy implementation obeys each states politics and processes, theplan importantly provides a roadmap or keeping the interstate relationship

on long-term track, she adds.

Te commissions work has not been without challenges o late. In 2010,

both joint plenary sessions were canceled in the wake o SB1070, the law

that would have made being undocumented a state elony in Arizona and

that throughout Mexico was seen as discriminatory. In 2011, however,

the commissions work is back on track, and this years regularly sched-

uled plenary took place as scheduled in Phoenix, AZ, over June 2-4, 2011.

Te commissions second plenary is to take place December 1-2 in Puerto

Peasco (Rocky Point), Sonora.



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Achieving

Cross-BorderEfciency in the

21st Century


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Bilateral trade plays such an essential yet largely invis-ible role in the U.S.-Mexico relationship that we mayrarely give thought to its day-to-day intricacies. Yet it is

one of the single most densely interwoven elements of

the relationship.

rade between Mexico and the United States approaches US$393 billion

in bilateral merchandise trade each year plus another US$35 billion in ser-

vices trade and US$109 billion in oreign investmenta growing amount

by Mexican frms in the United States. But these measures cant accurately

reect the deep interdependence that exists between the two economies.

Tough a large share o U.S.-Mexico trade involves fnished goods and ser-

vices going rom one country to the other, it also means deeply entwined

supply chains and joint production processes, in which inputs produced

in either country are used to produce goods in the other. In act, a ull 40

percent o the content o U.S. imports rom Mexico is actually produced in

the United States, and six million U.S. jobs are tied to trade with Mexico. 1

Te depth o economic integration between our two countries is es-

pecially elt at the U.S.-Mexico border, since approximately 80 percent

o U.S.-Mexico merchandise trade passes through one o the southwest-

ern land ports o entry (POEs). Te reliance on the ports underscores the

perennial challenge o keeping them operating smoothly, and this chal-

lenge is particularly acute at ports that process large volumes o perishable

goods. One such crossing is the Nogales/Mariposa port o entry in southern

Arizona where up to hal o the vegetables consumed in the United States in

the wintertime are imported. And it is here where an innovative bi-national

business advocacy group, the Nogales Corridor Working Group, has suc-

cessully tackled persistent trac congestion and bottlenecksby bringing

stakeholders together to discuss the issues, identiy goals and challenges,

and determine strategies or action.

A fnalist o this years Awards or U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border

Cooperation and Innovation, the Working Group was ormed in 2006

as a bi-national oshoot o the Greater Nogales Santa Cruz County Port

Authority, a business group comprising merchants and city ocials lobby-

ing or improvements at the Nogales/Mariposa port. As part o the port au-

thority, the Working Groups principal accomplishment has been success-

ully reducing truck bottlenecks on the Mexican side o Nogales/Mariposa.

Tis decongestion is crucial or streamlining commercial trac ows not

only on the U.S. side o the port but also, by extension, along the entire

multi-billion-dollar Canamex trade corridor, running rom Mexicos inte-

rior to the Canadian border.

rade generates jobs in Nogales, and keeping the port running

smoothly is important not only or the local jobs directly tied to maquila

but also or the 100,000 other indirect jobs that depend on this commerce,

says Jess Montoya, Executive Director o the Maquiladora Association o

Sonora. wo-way trade just in maquila at Nogales is on the order o US$20

billion a year, he says.

CHAPTER 6 /Achieving Cross-Border Efciency

in the 21st CenturyNogales Corridor Working Group



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Te Working Group was created to tackle protracted problems aecting

the ports smooth running, says erry Shannon, a third-generation customs

broker in Nogales and past chairman o the port authority. Te WorkingGroup was ormed within the port authority as we were working to get

unding or the reconfguration o the Mariposa port o entry, he says.

As we went about this process we ound that it was very important that

we keep our counterparts up to speed on what was going on. And so we

brought in upper- and mid-level olks who were on the ground. We began

making presentations in Mexico City to various government agencies as

the POE was coming online, and we decided also to involve U.S. agen-

cies. Soon, the Working Group took on a whole new lie o its own, and it

became the catch-all or all those issues that people had with the corridor.

In Mexico, the Working Groups frst steps involved lobbying or thecreation o a dedicated lane or pre-screened commercial trac, to link with

an existing Fast and Secure rade Lane (FAS Lane) on the U.S. side. Te

dedicated lane was needed so that U.S.-bound motor carriers, many oper-

ating on tight just-in-time schedules, wouldnt be slowed down by com-

mingling in general lanes with passenger trac. We saw the need to work

together to get a dedicated lane in Mexico that could connect with the

FAS lane at the U.S. port o entry, says Martha Rascon-Overpeck, who

coordinates the Working Group.

Te dedicated lane in Mexico was also needed so that U.S.-bound shippers

wouldnt be discouraged rom joining cargo pre-screening initiatives, such asthe Customs rade Partnership Against errorism. Tat program is an im-

portant U.S. eort aimed at intelligently risk-segmenting commercial trac.

C-PA, as it is known, fts within the bi-national 21st Century Border initia-

tive, which seeks to expedite secure commercial and people ows and is part o

the Beyond Mrida security cooperation strategy between both countries.

Te lobbying eort began in earnest in December 2006 and involved

the Groups reaching out to Mexican authorities and public sector repre-

sentatives o both sides o the border. In 2007, the group successully con-

vinced the Mexican toll road concessionaire responsible or an enclosed

corridor connecting to the port to place a kilometer o concrete barriers

to segregate passenger and commercial trac. And over 2008 and 2009, aremaining our kilometers were added to fnally create the dedicated lane,

Rascon-Overpeck says. Te Working Group has worked in other ways to

decongest the port o entry and clear bottlenecks. Leveraging its power to

sit down dierent parties, the Working Group has also successully negoti-

ated among truckers, port ocials, and commercial interests to end block-

ades that had previously paralyzed trac, hurting business.

Te blockades were costing business between US$3 and US$5 million a

day, Montoya says. So we decided to talk with the truckers. We could act as

intermediaries to resolve the problem. We met with [U.S. Customs and Border

Protection] and the truckers, and we talked and agreed that the conditionsneeded to improve. With that conversation, we helped end the blockades.

Yet there are plenty o continuing challenges. Te Working Group

would like to see the 13-kilometer enclosed corridor that leads to the port

put under permanent surveillance by Mexican ocials, and is also calling

or new lighting, cameras, and better signage. Tere is still plenty o room

or improvement, she says.

Other structural challenges exist too, Shannon says. Local transporta-

tion inrastructures need to be up to the task o attracting renewed manu-

acturing and maquila activity to the region, he says. Otherwise, the region

will lose out to rivals better able to hang onto that investment. Te eelingnow is that the maquila industry will begin to pick up again so I think

that that will be one o our challenges in the uture: making sure that the

inrastructure is sucient or economic growth, he says.

NOTES

1 Christopher E. Wilson, Working Together: Economic Ties Between the

United States and Mexico, Washington, DC: Woodrow Wilson Center,

November, 2011.



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Expansion of

the Lukeville Portof Entry


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ime-consuming cross-border wait-times are more thanan occasional annoyance. For border residents, theycan be daily headaches that frustrate shoppers, merchants,

and suppliers, stymieing local economies.

At the Arizona-Sonora border, long and unpredictable wait-times were

threatening tourism and real estate development at the Sea o Cortez town

o Puerto Peasco, known to U.S. travelers as Rocky Point. South-north

wait times were averaging three hours to get back rom the picturesque

coastal town, and Arizona beachgoers and prospective homeowners were

looking elsewhere or vacation spots. Te saturated queues and the glacial

pace o the border crossing were also dampening Mexican shoppers enthu-

siasm to make treks to ucson or Phoenix. We had to fnd a way to resolve

this situation, and we thought that i were interested in doing this, we have

to take the frst step, says Oscar Palacios, the head o the Rocky Point

Convention and Visitors Bureau.

o address the problem, Palacios group worked with the Arizona-Mexico

Commission and the Comisin Sonora-Arizona on an approximately US$3-

million plan to add two lanes, retroft inrastructure, and widen access roads at

the Lukeville/Sonoyta port o entry, the nearest crossing to Rocky Point. Te

groups solution was innovative and collaborative. It frst involved the Convention

and Visitors Bureau putting up an initial US$1 million stake, ollowed by a

matching investment rom the Arizona Department o ransportation, and,

ultimately, fnal unding rom the U.S. ederal government. Submitted by the

two commissions, the Lukeville expansion is a fnalist or this years Awards or

U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border Cooperation and Innovation.

Te plan was a model o a successul private-public partnership. It dem-

onstrated strong local commitment, reed the project rom the vagaries

o the ederal appropriations process, and got a typically slow-moving in-

rastructure project o the ground at record speed. Te decision to make

the initial investment was necessary, Palacios says, because other ports

with heavier commercial volume would have been prioritized in the ed-

eral appropriations process. Plus, it lowered the ederal governments und-

ing commitment to a more manageable and easier-to-secure amount, he

says. o Margie Emmermann, Executive Director o the Arizona-Mexico

Commission, the benefts in reduced wait-times, improved ows, and more

robust local economies on both sides o the border are obvious. We dont

have the congestion and backlog like we used to. Tis encourages the cross-

border trade and tourism that is so important or the economic vitality o

our region as people know there is an ecient crossing. oday, its only a

10-minute wait, she says.

Te Lukeville project was innovative in other ways too. Te new lanes are

reversible meaning that ows can be switched rom north-south to south-

north depending on tracan innovation that is in place at no other U.S.

port o entry, Emmermann says. And the new lanes are also specially out-

ftted to accommodate the RVs and other oversize vehicles avored by the

some 2,000 expat households who call Puerto Peasco home.

CHAPTER 7/Expansion of the Lukeville Port of EntryArizona-Mexico Commission and the Comisin Sonora Arizona



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Te expansion happened in record time compared with most other much

more time-consuming border inrastructure projects. But this success story

in cross-border cooperation couldnt have happened without the decades-long cultivation o the interstate relationship by the two commissions. Te

reason why the Lukeville expansion was successul was because the Arizona-

Mexico Commission and the Comision Sonora Arizona have been working

together or decades on ways to improve business relationships between our

two states, Emmermann says. Since 1959, the two commissions have strived

to meet regularlyin good times and badto advance the economic well-

being and quality o lie o the residents o Arizona and Sonora, managing

15 committees made up o representatives rom both state governments and

local business leaders. In 2009, the commissions drated a frst-ever strategic

plan,A Shared Vision for Arizona and Sonora, laying out a long-term visionor regional development around our key areas: economic competitiveness,

environmental sustainability, quality o lie, and public security. For more on

A Shared Vision , see the related entry in this publication.

Te successul Lukeville port-o-entry expansion is one o several inno-

vative private-public and public-public border inrastructure projects that

have won permitting approval in the Obama administration. Others in-

clude the Otay Mesa II port o entry, which won a presidential permit in

a swit 10 months by leveraging local buy-in in San Diego County with a

Caliornia state pledge to build a needed connector road rom the new port.Another prominent example rom Caliornia is the recent authorization in

2011 o a border-spanning bridge linking a passenger terminal on the San

Diego side to ijuanas General Abelardo Rodriguez Airporta project

driven in large part by U.S. developers.

But the Lukeville expansion is distinct rom these projects in a particu-

larly unique way, Emmermann says. Rather than U.S. business interests,

it was Mexican investors who propelled the project orward, taking the

frst step o contracting the fnancing to jumpstart it. Never beore has

there been a case where you have business people rom a oreign nation

willing to fnance additional lanes at a U.S. port o entry. Te Rocky PointConvention and Visitors Bureau helped to und an inrastructure invest-

ment in the United States. Tat to me is pretty innovative, collaborative,

and unique, she says. Adds Palacios, One important thing to remember is

that when a lot o people say things cant be done, we should say yes, they

can. A lot o things can be done when there are common interests and when

there is a s trong need.



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Giving Hope to

Children Sufferingfrom Cancer


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When Juan Carlos Castro Mungua and Irineo LimnVargas died in 2003 their families found themselvesat a desperate loss. How could they have died? Why?

Tese two young people had everything they needed to be successul in

lie. Unortunately, their deaths were premature and their amilies lost two

lights, says Pedro Cruz Camarena, who heads the oundation established

in their memory. o this day, their amilies do not understand how they

could have been taken rom them.

As short as they were, the lives o Juan Carlos, a native San Diegan

who died rom bone cancer at 28, and Irineo, a tijuanensewho was 34

when she died o liver cancer, have carried orth an enduring legacy. Te

Castro Limn Foundation, established by their parents in 2004, unds

the only pediatric cancer treatment center in Baja Caliornia, serving

Mexican and, in some cases, U.S. children rom throughout the bor-

der states. Since its inception, the center has assisted more than 1,000

amilies and annually provides cancer-treatment services to about 150

patients, Cruz Camarena says. And additional capacity should be online

soon ater the completion o a new oor to the centers oncology unit, a

project started this year. Te center is the only one o its kind in Mexico,

and, with the new oor, it will be the leading pediatric cancer treatment

center o its kind in Latin America, Cruz Camarena says. Te oun-

dation is a fnalist o this years Awards or U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border

Cooperation and Innovation.

Te center, whose ocial title is the Childhood Cancer Center o

Baja Caliornia (Centro Oncologico Pediatrico de Baja Caliornia), pro-

vides patients and amilies with the highest medical technology avail-

able, but it also makes use o a uniquely holistic model o care, treating

not only the body o each patient but also their psychological, social,

and spiritual well-being, Cruz Camarena says. Te center has a single-

minded commitment to treating the whole health o the pediatric cancer

patient, he says.

Te center is a model o cross-border collaboration. It has a close-knit

working relationship with its sister hospital on the other side o the bor-

der, Rady Childrens Hospital, located on the campus o the University

o Caliornia, San Diego (UCSD), with that hospitals physicians travel-

ing to ijuana to treat patients and providing access to advanced medi-

cal resources; another agreement, with UCSDs Radiation Center in Chula

Vista, is also in the works, he adds. On the philanthropic side, the oun-

dations Caliornia-based sister oundation, the International Cancer

Childrens Foundation, collaborates with U.S. partners or und-raising and

network-building, cultivating relationships with Rotary International and

the International Community Foundation, among other institutions, Cruz

Camarena adds.

Despite close proximity to advanced medical acilities in southern

Caliornia, the center serves an essential purpose or Mexican patients and

amilies, who would otherwise orego services because o U.S. visa require-

CHAPTER 8/Giving Hope to Children Suffering from CancerCastro Limn Foundation



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ments, Cruz Camarena says. Additionally, the center serves an essential

need or undocumented Mexican amilies in the United States whose im-

migration status could be red-agged upon a child patients admission tohospital, even i that child is U.S.-born. We are currently treating two

children rom Los Angeles whose parents lacked visas and who could have

aced deportation while their child was in treatment in the United States,

Cruz Camarena says. He adds that beore the center opened, juvenile pa-

tients in ijuana were routinely treated in hospitals designed or adults,

exposing them to diseases. Having a dedicated treatment center or juve-

nile patients is essential or Baja Caliornia or a number o reasons, Cruz

Camarena says.

Patients are considered on a frst-come-frst-served basis, and treatment is

means-based, priced according to a amilys ability to contribute. Even i a

child lacks (government medical insurance documentation), we treat them. Butwe also require every amily to make some contribution, or the amilys sense o

pride. We do not want a campesino or a laborer worrying about making a pay-

ment, but we do ask them to invest a modest amount, Cruz Camarena says.

Te center is a model or pediatric medical acilities in Mexico and elsewhere,

he says, adding that he has advised hospitals in Guadalajara, Chihuahua, Los

Cabos, and Bogota, Colombia. Te Cruz Limn Foundation is a model or

cross-border collaboration and it is a model that could, in many cases, be ad-

opted not only in Mexico but elsewhere in Latin America, he says.



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Innovations in

Bi-National RestorationEfforts: Seeking

Common Ground onwhich to Restore the

Lower Colorado River


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Borderland environmental degradation damages bothcountries shared watersheds, atmospheres, and greaterecosystems, with challenges like deforestation, drought,

and pollution straddling rather than stopping at the bound-ary line. These stresses emphasize the critical need for

joint management of a region threatening to become even

hotter and drier from climate change and whose perenni-

ally acute water needs risk upsetting regional population

balances. At the same time, few other issues demand the

same intensity of bi-national collaboration, and the bor-

ders shared challenges present unique opportunities for

enhanced U.S.-Mexico collaboration, especially on issues of

natural resource management, cross-border emergency re-

sponse, and renewable energy development.A recent success story in bi-national environmental cooperation has

been the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area Corp.s wetlands restora-

tion eorts around the Lower Colorado River. Begun in 2007, the resto-

ration seeks to reclaim sections o a 22-mile stretch where the Colorado

runs at a virtual trickle downstream o the Los Morales Dam, the site

where Mexico extracts a 1.5-million-acre-eet allotment o river water.

In this so-called limitrophe section, unchecked non-native plant growth

had created a veritable no mans land, turning it into a avored staging

ground or unauthorized crossings and or the criminal gangs that prey

on migrants. Says Charles Flynn, the corporations executive director, In

2005 and 2006, there was a tremendous amount o illegal crossings and

activities, and gangs were preying on people trying to cross the border.

It wasnt primarily Americans being victimized, but rather Mexican mi-grants who were the victims. Te corporations reclamation eorts are a

fnalist or the 2011 Awards or U.S.-Mexico Cross-Border

Documents

Our Shared Border: Success Stories in U.S.-Mexico Collaboration