Dennis E. Nixon, Chairman & CEO of IBC Bank in Laredo, Texas & Woody L. Hunt, Senior Chairman of Hunt Companies, Inc. in El P...
January 18 2021 - 12:01PM
Business Wire
Dennis E. Nixon, chairman and CEO of IBC Bank in Laredo, Texas
and Woody L. Hunt, senior chairman of Hunt Companies, Inc. in El
Paso, Texas offer the following advice:
Texas Border Leaders Identify Border Priorities for Incoming
Biden Administration
Dear President- Elect Biden:
Your administration’s first 100 days will be critical. Much of
your time will, appropriately, be focused on the continued response
to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the economic wreckage it has
caused, and mending the fabric of a frayed nation. But, as
residents of the border, we encourage you not to lose sight of four
other key issues that should be addressed swiftly to start moving
our nation, and our economy, in the right direction.
First, you should work with Congress to fully fund staffing and
improvements at our undermanned and antiquated ports of entry. The
pandemic has exposed the dangers of far-flung supply chains. To
return jobs to the U.S. from other countries, including China,
Congress approved the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA)
with strong bipartisan support. Now we must modernize our ports of
entry to effectively and efficiently handle the increased trade
resulting from this trade agreement.
We need transportation infrastructure to allow better ingress
and egress from the ports of entry and major highways. Bringing our
ports of entry into the 21st century will benefit the entire
nation, increasing our global competitiveness and creating and
retaining jobs in manufacturing hubs across the country - from
Wisconsin to Pennsylvania, Washington to Ohio -- well into the
future.
Second, our country’s immigration system is desperately in need
of reform. The last four years have decimated an already broken
legal immigration system. While we need enhanced border security to
keep bad people out, but we should make it easier for the right
people to enter and stay in the United States.
Our immigration policies are at odds with the demographic
realities of our aging population and lower birth rates that
require more foreign-born workers – both low-skilled and
high-skilled – to support a growing economy. Farmers and ranchers
have trouble finding the seasonable labor they need, while
high-tech companies have trouble locating engineers. The United
States is in a global contest to attract and retain talent. To that
end, providing permanent legal status to DACA recipients makes
sound economic sense. Our policies must allow us to compete for the
workers we need to fuel our economy, and retain the talent that
already exists here but that lacks a certain future in our nation
with permanent legal status.
Third, we encourage your designee for secretary of Homeland
Security, Alejandro Mayorkas, to enact a 6-month moratorium on the
expensive wall construction and land condemnation along the
U.S.-Mexico border, and instead establish more effective, less
costly measures for border security in Texas. While border wall
construction in Arizona is predominately on federally-owned land
such as military bases or national parks, in Texas the bulk of wall
construction would be targeted for private property and severely
impede farmers and ranchers’ reasonable use of their land by
destroying access to the Rio Grande River.
Rather than a wall, common-sense tactics to improve border
security should include two of the highest priority requests from
Border Patrol agents: cleaning up the Rio Grande riverbanks by
removing non-native Carrizo cane and salt cedar to create a clear
line of sight along the river banks and removing barriers to allow
agents to better access the riverbank. Along with the deployment of
a video surveillance network to quickly detect, track and respond
to border threats, these steps would enhance border security far
more effectively than a costly wall.
Finally, your administration should immediately lift the
restrictions on surface crossings at our borders with Mexico and
Canada. Businesses already hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic have
been devastated by the Department of Homeland Security’s supposedly
temporary border closures instituted in the early days of the
pandemic. They continue to drag on, without any scientific or
medical rationale.
After nine months of shutting out so-called non-essential travel
across U.S. borders, including shoppers who account for as much as
60 percent of retail sales in border communities, the restrictions
have left many businesses unsure if they will be able to come back
once the pandemic is over.
Your first 100 days will be critical, and the steps your
administration takes in that time will chart the course for our
nation - and your administration -- over the next four years. We
urge you to restore to Washington a proper appreciation and
understanding for the role the border plays in our national
security and economic prosperity. It will serve you and the country
well.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210118005445/en/
Marcie Hernandez 2106305930 marcieh@kgbtexas.com
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