By Howard Fischer
Capitol Media Services
PHOENIX -- Gov. Katie Hobbs said this week she worries that the closure of the border crossing at Lukeville could spread.
"We're already seeing a huge impact on tourism and trade,'' the governor said, even though the port of entry was shuttered indefinitely just hours earlier. Customs and Border Protection said the move was necessary so that its officers could aid Border Patrol in processing the flood of migrants entering the country at places other than official crossings.
And with no abatement of that flow, that raises the concern that the federal government could decide its officers at other ports of entry elsewhere , who until now have been screening pedestrians and vehicles entering this country, also could need to be redeployed.
"I don't want to find out what could happen,'' Hobbs said.
"So, hopefully, we won't be having that conversation,'' the governor continued. "We're letting the feds know how frustrated we are and how bad this decision is.''
The timing, in some ways, could not have been worse.
December tends to be the busiest month for Mexicans to cross into Arizona, often to shop at stores not just in Nogales but in Yuma County, Tucson and the Phoenix area. And the closure of the Lukeville port of entry comes even as the Morley crossing for pedestrians, shut down in September for what was supposed to be just two months, remains closed.
All that could add to wait times at the remaining ports -- and become a deterrence to international travel.
Hobbs said she did not have an immediate answer to the economic impact of the closures but said it could reach into the billions of dollars.
Data from the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona showed nearly 1.5 million people in vehicles crossing into Arizona at Nogales in December 2022, the highest month since before the 2020 recession, with another 545,000 pedestrians.
That report does not have economic impact data.
But a 2008 study prepared by the Arizona Office of Tourism -- the most recent available -- showed that total crossers of non-U.S. citizens spent more than $562 million in the state in December of that year. And that figure amounts to nearly 21% of all spending by Mexican visitors in Arizona for the entire year.
"This is a bad decision that impacts our border security,'' Hobbs said. "It hurts our economy because it's putting a damper on trade and tourism
All this comes against the backdrop of Hobbs reaffirming her position that the state has no intention of trying to use its own resources and personnel to staff the Lukeville entry and keep it open, as requested last week by Sen. T.J. Shope, R-Coolidge.
So what does the governor intend to do?
"We're certainly in communication with folks on the ground,'' she said. "And we're looking at all our options.''
But Hobbs said that having the state run the port of entry is "not something that they're asking for right now.''
The solution, she said, has to come from Washington.
"We need the federal government to step up and do its job and secure our border,'' the governor said.
And that, Hobbs said, starts with hiring more agents.
"I mean, they're pulling agents from Lukeville to do processing,'' she said. "And if they were providing more resources, they wouldn't have to do that.''
Hobbs isn't the only one seeking more federal staff.
In a prepared statement, Verlon Jose, chairman of the Tohono O'odham Nation which borders Mexico, said the shuttering of the Lukeville crossing will have immediate impacts on members of the tribe.
"Closing a legal port of entry, effectively shutting down all legal crossings and significant cross-border activity for an entire region, makes no sense whatsoever,'' he said. "The nation will continue to call on Customs and Border Protection to bring in additional manpower to address border-related activities at the border.''
Jose also found common ground with Hobbs on what both said is a longer-term solution: comprehensive immigration reform.
Neither spelled out exactly what that includes.
But it has come to be considered a combination of increased border enforcement along with changes in laws to allow U.S. companies to bring in more workers legally. So far, though, efforts to enact that have been stalled, at least in part because some federal lawmakers want the border secured first before considering anything else.
Separately, the International Sonoran Desert Alliance posted an open letter to President Biden and Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas criticizing the closure and saying that, from a numeric perspective, it makes little sense.
"The reality is that the 23 agents that operate the Lukeville port of entry will not make a substantive difference in the capacity of the 3,700 Tucson sector Border Patrol agents ability to respond,'' wrote Aaron Cooper, executive director of the organization that focuses its attention around Ajo and surrounding areas. "However, in their current capacity at the Lukeville port of entry, those 23 agents represent a lifeline for small, vulnerable communities that daily depend on this port of entry.''
Cooper also said if the port is closed -- and there has been no announcement of any reopening plans or dates -- "jobs will be lost, businesses will fail, kids with withdraw from school, families will be separated and, in all likelihood, people will die due to the increased burden of accessing necessary medical care.''
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