Though all too often hidden from the public eye behind headlines on organized crime, violence, and unauthorized immigration, the United States-Mexico economic relationship is strong and growing. U.S.-Mexico goods and services trade is now valued at more than a half-trillion dollars per year, and exports to Mexico are now more than U.S. exports to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (the BRICS) combined. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce estimates that U.S.-Mexico trade supports six million American jobs.

Seventy-seven percent of all U.S. trade with Mexico comes across the land border, the majority by truck, making the efficient operation of our land ports of entry crucial to maintaining and building on the six million American jobs sustained by bilateral trade. Given the importance of our nation's security and economic needs, solutions are needed that strengthen both border security and efficiency at the same time. Strategic efforts to maximize existing resources, improving throughput and reducing congestion, are also needed.