US/Mexico to Ease Border Security for 'Trusted Travelers'

The Presidents of United States and Mexico met with the Prime Minister of Canada today to announce plans to relax border controls for “trusted travelers.”  This announcement came during a summit of the three nations marking the 20^th anniversary of the North American Free Trade Agreement known as NAFTA.

The Guardian reports that a centerpiece of the summit will be the release of a communique announcing a new agreement to speed up the movement of executives and other regular travelers.  This would be accomplished by the creation of a single continent-wide system of pre-screening for certain individuals.

The Guardian continues by explaining that any reform of U.S. border controls would dictate a need for increased communication between the three nations.  These communication protocols would need to be closely scrutinized by Washington. Republican leaders have warned President Obama not to use executive orders to circumvent their positions on securing our nation’s borders.

Breitbart Texas border security expert, Sylvia Longmire explained other obstacles in the process. 

“The amount of tension,” Longmire stated, “between these three countries at the North American Summit is considerable. Canada is upset with the U.S. for stalling on the Keystone XL pipeline, and Mexico is upset with the U.S. for failing to pass immigration reform.”

“Instead of using the time together,” Longmire continued, “to hash out some of these tough issues, Obama, Peña Nieto, and Harper have chosen to focus on window dressing like a joint defense agreement between Mexico and Canada, and another commercial travel program between the U.S. and Mexico.”

The Mexican Minister of Foreign affairs acknowledged, “There are several national trusted traveler programs already in place like Nexus, Global Entry, Sentry, and in the case of Mexico, Viajero Confiable.”

“In order to blend these together into one North American system,” Longmire concluded, “the three countries are going to have to play nice and share an unprecedented level of information; something Mexico has been more unwilling to do with the U.S. since Peña Nieto was elected.

The question then becomes, can “trusted travelers” be trusted?  Breitbart Texas revealed today, the indictment of a former Mexican state treasury secretary on charges of money laundering and bribery related to drug trafficking.  Further, in December 2013, Breitbart News’ Brandon Darby reported about a former Mexican governor of Tamaulipas being indicted on charges related to helping the Mexican Gulf Cartel smuggle narcotics into the U.S.