By Jill Replogle for Fronteras
SAN DIEGO – Researchers at the University of Southern California have developed a model to predict how adding customs and border agents at U.S. Ports of Entry would affect the economy. They found that one new agent at each of the country’s busiest border crossings and international airports could mean big bucks and jobs.
If U.S. Customs and Border Protection added just one extra agent to check trucks here at the Otay Mesa commercial border crossing, each truck might wait a minute or two less than it does now to get its goods into the U.S.
That might not sound like much, but cumulatively, it could translate into two million dollars each year added to our gross domestic product. That’s one of the conclusions reached by USC researchers in a recent study funded by the Department of Homeland Security.
In terms of people crossing the border to shop and work, the researchers found that one additional border agent on the job would translate into thirty-three new additional jobs in the U.S. and more than half a million dollars worth of time saved for border crossers.
The USC team looked at things like the value of a border crosser’s time, and how delay affects transportation costs.
Adam Rose is one of the study’s authors.
ADAM ROSE: “I mean it’s only in the millions of dollars instead of the billions, but you know, they are pretty significant and shows that this is a winning proposition.”
Still, considering federal budget woes, CBP could be more likely to cut staff in the near future than add it.
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