U.S. director of homeland security Tom Ridge said border checkpoint controls and inspection process between the United States and Mexico are still "not good enough," according a report inThe Washington Post.
Following a two day visit to Mexico, Ridge said he believes the enforcement and technology used at U.S.-Mexican border crossings is "really outdated" and leads to long traffic delays. An estimated 300 million people annually cross the U.S.-Mexican border, and relying on manual inspections of passenger cars and commercial vehicles is "just not good enough anymore."
U.S. businesses contend that border-crossing delays have cost them hundreds of millions of dollars, adding that trucks that could once make four round trips a day over the U.SD. Mexican border before Sept. 11 now have time for just one trip. Ridge called such delays "unconscionable," the newspaper said.
