Go. Good morning. So, welcome to the Wilson Center. We are going to get started today. I am chris wilson, good morning. Welcome to the Wilson Center. Were going to get started today. Im chris wilson, Deputy Director of the Mexico Institute he here. I lead our work on the u. S. mexico border, amongst some other things. Were very pleased to be partnering with the Border Trade Alliance once again on the sixth annual border conference. I would say too often the u. S. mexico border, especially viewed here in washington or the National News media is understood primarily as a risk, Entrance Point for a terrorist attack. Something that, thank goodness, has never occurred to this date. Its a risk for drug trafficking, and risk for unauthorized immigration and in a sense it is all of those things. It does represent some risks. It is absolutely an integral part of our home Defense System along with International Partnerships and good policing across the country and plenty of other pieces across that system. But the border is so much more than that. Much more than a risk, the border, to me, represents an opportunity. Already the fourth largest economy in the world, already we have a half trillion dollars of u. S. Trade that crosses the border each year. We have a mix in that special border region of the competitive advantages of the yunited state and mexico that make it an especially attractive place for investment and production as part of the northern American Manufacturing platform. The border region has traditionally been seen as the perfectivery, the edge of the y United States, in many ways a wild frontier. In many ways for a long time has already become the heart and the center of the north american regional economy and thats what were trying to highlight by having an event like this, and doing it every year. Were trying to make sure that the national conversation, conversation here in washington about the border has people, like some of you from the border region, who see it up close and personal and know there is so much opportunity in the border and, yes, some risks, but that we can manage those things with smart policy ideas to enhance security and competitiveness at the same time. I want to thank the Border Trade Alliance, britain clark and all the Board Members of the bta for partnering with us once again. Ct strategies, Constellation Brands for helping make this event possible. I would like to recognize any of our special guests in the audience. Pat onsmeyer from our board is here as well. Mexican embassy is coming upstairs as we speak. And, of course, i want to say were honored to be joined by senator jon cornyn of texas, a long friend of this conference, actually, has participated in it before. He was here to talk about mexico securi security. Jane harmon is in boston but says shes still working to get you that credential as part of the Wilson Center team. Were delighted to have someone like you here, who has truly demonstrated leadership on u. S. mexico relations, building a competitive border and all the things were here to talk about and focus on today. Thank you very much, senator. Its great to be back at the Wilson Center. When we talk about the border, that seems to dominate our conversations. Im here to talk about not just that but as paul harvey, the famous radio personality used to say, the rest of the story. And we know the Security Issues certainly steal the headlines but as a texan, this is personal because, of course, our relationship with mexico, as i like to say, were like an old married couple. We cant get divorced. We have to make it work. And we do that every day to our mutual benefit. I believe in the importance of a strong trading relationship with our southern neighbor because i know of its positive impact on our state but also on the nation. Nafta and our trading relationship with north america and canada and mexico is credited with supporting about 5 million american jobs, about another 8 million binational trade with canada. Its obviously very, very important. And our total goods and Services Trade totaled more than 670 billion last year alone. And most of it is because of our proximity to mexico, between the state of texas and mexico, which is and mexico is far and away texas top trading partner. In 2018, for example, texas exported 110 billion in goods to mexico and imported more than 107 billion from that country. Now, that trade feeds our local communities and certainly our state and national economy. Its critical to the supply chain for the Manufacturing Industry that depends on that binational trade. And i think we ought to be looking for ways to do more business, not less business with mexico. And i had a chance to visit with some of you yesterday. Its good to see you again. Right now, the thing that is dominating the headlines is the humanitarian crisis thats occurring at the border. That was first that phrase was first coined in 2014 by president barack obama, who called the surge of migration across the border a humanitarian and security crisis and its gotten worse, unfortunately, due to a confluence of circumstances. 140,000 people were detained at the southern border. Whats so different, people are simply turning themselves in, because frankly, the chi ooyote have figured out american law and realize if you bring unaccompanied children or send unaccompanied children or bring families, they will successfully navigate our immigration laws and end up being able to stay in the United States because theyve simply overwhelmed our capacity to deal with the issue. I wouldnt be surprised until some of the more recent developments weve seen for that number to get bigger. Third month in a row that the number of individuals who came across the border were six figures and its a trend we havent experienced since 2006 when the yearly total topped more than a million. Theres essentially no net migration from mexico. Primarily a Central American phenomenon. The real grand valley Border Patrol sector tells me last year alone they detained people from 140 different countries. This is well known to the sm smuggling organizations and who care nothing about the people. They view them merely as a commodity. Many of these criminal organizations are commodity agnostic. Theyre in it for the money and nothing else. Congress and the administration have grappled with the way to manage this massive influx of migrants and its caused some consternation about legal trade and travel and created a lot of challenges. For one thing because the numbers have simply overwhelmed our capacity, the ports of entry are now primarily ways that children and family units are cared for as they are processed through our system and, of course, customs and Border Protection officials are being deployed to hand out juice boxes and diapers as opposed to moving commerce across the border. I understand things have gotten a little bit better since we surged additional custom and border officials to those ports but what that means is were taking them from other places around the country and were starting to hear from some of our friends on the northern border and at airports around the country and elsewhere that we are that they are experiencing delays and problems as a result of this allocation in resources. I remember one time when i had this conversation with president trump, who said well, were going to shut down the border. And i called the president and i said mr. President , thats going to have a lot of unintended consequences and please let us come back to you with some more targeted ways to try to get peoples attention. Of course, the most important thing that could be done is congress could actually do its job and act. And, indeed, i reached out to my friend and frequent partner on trade and border issues, henry quahar, from texas. I call him one of the last blue dog democrats but he is a reasonable, rational, good, patriotic american and great texan, who ive worked with on a number of these issues and weve introduced legislation called the humane act to deal with some of these legal loopholes that are being exploited now by the human smugglers to move people into the United States. The other alternative is what the president resorted to when congress wouldnt act. He has threatened additional tariffs on mexico. And i am happy that the relationship with mexico and the United States is such that they were able to negotiate a result, which involves mexico signing more of its National Guard along the southern mexican border. Tra deshlly, this has been viewed as an american problem and mexico hasnt viewed this as their problem, much as they have the drug issue where they view this as being an american problem. There wasnt a demand, people wouldnt be selling drugs, which seems like an obvious point. But its an important one nonetheless. Now i think mexico views this as a shared problem and challenge, something we need to work on together. And i hope its with that attitude in mind that we will continue to do so. But the most important legislative thing we can do beyond dealing with this broken asylum system henry and i are trying to work on is make sure that the usmca is confirmed. Mexico has taken the first step, very encouraging. And i know all of you have followed this very, very closely. Theres no question in my mind that nafta has been a net benefit to the United States, and particularly to texas. I know those are controversial words in some circles, but i believe its true. And i believe you can demonstrate it in dollars and cents. When i first learned the administration was eyeing nafta for some changes, i talked to ambassador lightheizer and encouraged him to fix it, not nix it. There was talk about terminating nafta and then some questions among lawyers about whether the president had the authority to do that. I came down on the side that he did not. Congress passed laws that could not be unilaterally withdrawn by the president. Im glad we didnt have to confront that issue. I think that would contribute more chaos and more uncertainty where we need to have less chaos and more certainty. Obviously, nafta could stand a little update and truth is that the Energy Sector and particularly the Digital Economy were things that werent really as influential in our shared economy back when nafta was first passed as they are today. By a negotiation of our governments im glad this rebranded agreement was signed by the head of all three countries in november. A couple of months ago, International Trade commission publicly released its analysis of the Economic Impact of the agreement and showed its positive impacts. The itc concluded that within six years of going into effect, the usmca will raise Gross Domestic Product and lead to 176,000 new jobs. We can also expect more than 33 billion increase in our exports at about 31 billion in increase ed imports. Thats great news for american workers, farmers, ranchers, businesses that will reap the benefits of this agreement and im eager to get moving on the next step in the process, congressional consideration. We recently received congress recently received something called the statement of administrative action from the trump administration. That was three weeks ago, which is government speak for the legislation should be coming soon. Were anxiously awaiting the next step, enabling the legislation to come over to us. Once it does come to congress under trade promotion authority, congress cant amend it. Its not the usual legislative process where people will be offering amendments and voting those up or down. Its an up or down vote on the entire agreement. So its really important that any negotiations in terms of side agreements and other understandings take place before the enabling legislation comes. Im encouraged by Speaker Pelosi being receptive to passing the usmca. She wants to make sure that the house does its Due Diligence. Shes appointed a team of legislators that will primarily speak for the house in terms of those negotiations. Im anxious for that to take place soon. The house will vote first, given the bills implications and will come to the senate. Well consider it in the Senate Finance committee, on which i sit, and the full senate will vote. In terms of when you can expect this to happen theyre in the hands of the administration. We could get the bill as soon as june 30th, which would start a 9 90day shot clock, or tlafr. I would encourage you to encourage the administration and the house to not let this linger any longer than necessary. The farther this gets into the reelection cycle and becomes politicized by the president ial campaign and other campaigns, i think that would be to the detriment of considering the usmca and getting it passed. Ambassador lightheizer testified in front of the finance committee. I asked him the very question, when does the Administration Plan to submit the implementing bill to congress . He was studiously vague. He noted his interest in sending the bill and noted negotiations with House Democrats to advance the agreement but he didnt give me a time. And i dont actually blame him, but i wanted to ask the question anyway, to encourage him and people watching this to get the job done. Because historically speaking, the closer we get to the election, the more challenging it is to get anything passed, particularly in a divided congress. I hope we can get this moving along soon. Thats probably one of the most anticipated changes in the trade world. Ports of entry on the southern border and elsewhere, texas is home to 29 air, land and seaports of entry, more than any other state. We rely upon the dedicated men and women who serve to both protect us from dangerous and elicit goods and facilitate trade and travel. That job has gotten nothing but more difficult because of the numbers of people sky rocketing across the border, custom officers from their routine duties and some of the busiest texas ports like those in el paso and laredo have born the brunt of these reassignments. With fewer customs officers on the jobs, weve begun to see lengthy delays along our entire southern border. Juarez across from el paso, truckers reported sleeping in their vehicles overnight so they wouldnt lose their place in line. They had literally taken to chartering airplanes to fly from juarez to el paso, an 11minute flight, just in order to bipass the congestion at the ports of entry. The impact of those delays reaches far beyond my state and could be felt by the national economy. Particularly in manufacturing. And agriculture. With the shortage of officers, the impact on the ports will get nothing but worse, especially during the busy summer months. To try to help address, at least on an interim basis, some of these staffing shortages, i introduced a piece of legislation with senator gary peters of michigan. That bill would require an additional 600 cvp officers until the Agency Staffing needs are met. It authorizes mission of support staff to perform nonLaw Enforcement functions, relying officers to focus their efforts on Law Enforcement priorities. It would require reporting on Infrastructure Improvements that would enhance our screening capabilities and i believe its an entirely feasible goal to meet and would be would ensure cvp has the staffing, resources and infrastructure needed to keep our ports safe and running efficiently. This bill was passed unanimously yesterday by the Homeland Security committee in the senate and i hope we can bring it up for full consideration by the senate soon. Both the usmca and more effective and efficient ports are critical to maintaining a competitive and smart border. But without action to get to the bottom of what has led to many of these challenges, well continue to find ourselves in a battle of wills and battle of physical versus economic security. My point here is today is we dont have to pick between those. We can have both and we need to focus on both physical and economic security. We can control the flow of migrants coming across the border without sacrificing our security. We recently heard from Border Patrol chief carlo provost. He compared the situation to holding a bucket under a faucet and said it doesnt matter how many buckets you have if you cant turn off the faucet. The main problems that need to be addressed by the humane act is the flores agreement described how uncompanied children should be handled at the border. Obviously, we want to make sure we treat all of those children in a compassionate and humane way. But the agreement had been extended that made it impossible to detain families that came across with children. Any of you involved in Law Enforcement know, you can pass all the laws you want. But unless theres some deterrent aspect to the law, people are going to continue to come. And thats exactly what has happened. So children have been turned into a get out of jail free card for migrants and there have been documented cases of people claiming children that were not their biological children. And the Border Patrol has literally taken to perform dna tests to make sure children arent being exploited. A recent story quoted a man as saying thats the thing everyone knows n