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Ambassador Sarukhan, thank you for the leadership you have
provided to Mexico while in Washington.
Juan Jose Moises Bravo, I know our customs has enjoyed a
wonderful working relationship with your team. Thank you for
making that opportunity available and helping to plan such
great events for today.
Mr. Winkowski, thank you for making the trip from Washington.
Your CBP Team in Mexico City and at the Ports of Entry have
worked incredibly hard to put together this day.
Alfredo González Fernández, it is a pleasure to see you and
to be so close to your wonderful state.
David Gonzalez, thanks for having us here at the bridge today
and thank you so much for the stewardship and direction you
provide to support this bridge.
Jose San Martin, thank you for coming and for your remarks.
And thank you all for joining us here today to inaugurate
the most recent addition to the already very successful SENTRI
Lane program. Having been raised on the border just east of
here, I have always known the importance of easy border crossings.
Whether the crossing was for my brother and me to accompany
our father on his weekend visits to the barbershop on Saturdays
in Matamoros or whether it was for my classmates at St. Joe’s
who traveled to Brownsville every day for school, border crossings
were a fact of life. Later as county judge, I saw that the
ability for goods to get from one country to the other could
increase prosperity on both sides.
Now, as Ambassador, I have made it a personal mission to
demonstrate my support and belief in making border crossings
both secure and quick. Even while we deal with greater security
threats in both nations, we should focus on the ability to
go from one country to the other for the sake of prosperity.
Day in and day out, we hear about the extraordinary efforts
made by President Calderón and his administration to
make Mexico a safer and more secure nation, most recently
through the October proposal of the Mérida Initiative.
The United States stands with Mexico in its efforts because
drugs and violence are not threats faced by Mexico alone.
If our neighbors suffer, so too do we suffer.
Just the same, if our neighbors enjoy prosperity, without
fear from drugs and violence, we too will enjoy prosperity.
A perfect example of the U.S. and Mexico working together
for the sake of security is the extradition of an accused
murderer to the United States to stand trial. He was arrested
in Mexico and the Mexican government has agreed to extradite
him to the U.S. later this morning.
This will be the 80th such formal extradition in the calendar
year – an all-time record for our two countries. It
is also indicative of how we will enjoy many more successes
on a similar level as Mexico and the United States work together
even more closely through the Mérida Initiative.
That is how we have focused on those who will do us harm.
SENTRI, on the other hand, is a program that helps those who
will make us stronger. SENTRI is no small program that only
works for the select few. Here in Hidalgo, there are 2,372
people who already use SENTRI, and I hear that many more are
signing up each day. Across our shared border there are over
151,000 travelers from both sides enrolled in the SENTRI program.
Indeed, in the 12 years since the first SENTRI Lane opened
in Otay Mesa, California, SENTRI has helped millions of people
cross the border safely and more quickly, saving an uncountable
number of hours that they would otherwise have spent waiting.
The numerous ‘best practice’ awards that SENTRI
has earned over the years have acknowledged the importance
of this program.
But all of the numbers and facts and awards in the world
can’t portray the real story. The real story is that
this SENTRI Lane opening is good for communities on both sides
of the border. The real story is that this is yet another
example of the Mexican and U.S. governments working together
in a joint effort for the benefit of Mexicans and Americans.
The real story is that, while some may call for walls between
our countries and focus only on a secure border, those who
know realize that no border will be truly secure unless it
is prosperous on both sides. This new SENTRI Lane provides
another opportunity for citizens of the U.S. and Mexico to
work toward that prosperity.
From San Ysidro to Brownsville, from Tijuana to Matamoros,
the SENTRI program has proven to be a model for safe and efficient
border crossings. The mayors and county judges present here
today have worked to make their municipalities models of good
government, and I am pleased that the Mexican and U.S. Federal
governments can support their efforts with the SENTRI program.
As we are in the holiday season, I hope that we can be thankful
for the many blessings we enjoy here on the border, including
good people and strong communities. At the same, let us focus
on the shared challenges that we will overcome together in
the near future through our common recognition and dedication
to facing these problems together.
In that light, I’d like to close with a simple prayer and
that is this: may God bless Mexico and the United States and
may He especially bless this stretch of river that unites,
not divides, us. Thank you all so very much.
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