Will the Border Be Open Today?
by John Lawrence, November 29, 2018
Today I go to Tijuana, and it's raining. I will pass through the same Port of Entry where the "caravan" is waiting to get into the US. I go there frequently because that's where my dentist is - Dr. Garcia at Baja Oral Center. I've had 2 root canals, a crown and an implant lately so I've been down there a lot. Today is the last visit for a while at least as Dr. Garcia will do the permanent fillings on the root canals. More and more people are going to Tijuana for medical and dental work. Why? The professionals there are just as good as those in the US or even possibly better and they don't charge you and arm and a leg ... only an arm. Ha. Ha. No, dental work in San Diego is outrageously expensive if you need anything other than a routine cleaning.
The broader point is that there is a lot of transborder business that goes on every single day. San Ysidro is the busiest Port of Entry in the world. I take people to and from the border as an Uber driver. Some people live in Tijuana and work in the US. Why? Rents and home ownership is cheaper down there. They are building a lot of luxury high rise condos along the border. As Americans get priced out of home ownership in San Diego, it is wiser to buy a condo there and commute. San Ysidro is only about a 15 minute freeway drive from downtown San Diego.
The US better get its act together on immigration because the lack of an actual, workable policy regarding refugees, asylum seekers and everything else is affecting thansborder business. San Ysidro businessmen lost millions just because the border was shut down last Sunday for a few hours, and Trump is threatening to close the border permanently? That would be a disaster beyond measure. I just hope it doesn't get shut down while I'm down there today so I can't get back home.
But my potential suffering doesn't compare to the suffering of poor people from Honduras and Guatemala who just want a better life for themselves and their families. There are approximately 6000 of them holed up in a sports stadium in Tijuana. Some have given up and returned home despite the evident threats to their lives by the "gangs." Central and South America are in bad shape and their people are suffering. An American medical ship is giving help to Venezualans offshore that they can't get in Venezuela. If the US spent as much money on helping real people in its own hemisphere as it does on its military-industrial complex, there wouldn't have to be the drama of desperate people trying to get to the US for a better life for themselves and their families. Oh well, I guess the task of helping people in Central and South America will be left to China which is picking up the ball and running with it.
