BORDERING ON NORMAL: ACTIVITY PICKING UP ALONG U.S.-MEXICO FRONTIER

BROWNSVILLE - Whether it was to go shopping or visit relatives, Elva Perez
rarely strayed from her routine. Twice weekly she crossed an international
bridge here leading to Matamoros.

But after the Sept. 11 attacks, the endless hours of waiting in line at the
port of entry weren't worth saving a few dollars. Ms. Perez, a financial
counselor at a Brownsville hospital, curtailed her travel into Mexico.

"At the very beginning when all of this happened ... it really got hard.
There were really bad lines ... because they were really looking at the
cars," she recalled. "Everybody had to get out of the car. Then they would
check the car and everything."

The impact of the tightened grip at ports of entry along the 1,255-mile
Texas-Mexico border was particularly felt in commerce and immigration. It
affected all crossing points, but especially the major ones - in El Paso,
Laredo and Brownsville, as National Guardsmen temporarily joined in the
beefed-up presence.

But residents and authorities report that after the initial burst of
activity, people began adjusting, minimizing disruption as officials better
used resources.

"It's starting to get back to the way it was," Ms. Perez said.

The four-hour waits are down to two hours. Downtown border retail business,
which suffered from the disappearance of Mexican shoppers after Sept. 11,
is back. Illegal immigration, which also took a dive, is rising again.
Inspections remain intense but are not as time-consuming as immediately
after the terrorist attacks.

"We just had to refine what we were doing. We're still doing the same
thing, we're just doing it quicker," said Barry Johnston, canine branch
chief for the U.S. Customs Service at four bridges in Cameron County,
including Brownsville.

Chief Johnston watched as a Customs officer walked KT, a black Labrador
retriever, around each car on a recent afternoon as drivers waited - bumper
to bumper - to exit an international bridge.

Minutes later, he strolled over to a black Mustang pulled aside for
secondary inspection. Wearing black gloves, a fellow Customs inspector
rummaged through luggage and other belongings. A young woman, a man and a
woman carrying a sleeping child stood nearby.

"Our main emphasis right now, of course, is anti-terrorism because we're
working harder and doing more intensive exams. Because of that, we're
finding a lot more narcotics," Chief Johnston said.

Narcotics seizures - heroin, cocaine and marijuana - have increased from
Brownsville to New Mexico. Customs officials said there was a 51 percent
increase over the previous year's levels in apprehensions of wanted people
in South Texas in the months following Sept. 11.

Illegal Crossings

But where Customs officials saw gains in seizures, the U.S. Border Patrol
has picked up fewer undocumented immigrants - a function partially
attributed to decreasing numbers of people attempting the trip. "We
continue to see a decrease," said Doug Mosier, a Border Patrol spokesman in
the El Paso sector. "But I think we're starting to see increasing numbers
again now in southern New Mexico."

The El Paso Border Patrol sector, running from Hudspeth County through New
Mexico, noted 19 percent fewer apprehensions since last October, compared
with the same period a year ago. The McAllen sector experienced a 24
percent dip.

In the weeks after the border clampdown, people avoided crossing illegally
because they feared they might encounter military personnel or more agents
standing guard, Border Patrol officials said.

"Certainly, after a while it kind of got back to a normal level," said
Agent Xavier Rios, a McAllen sector Border Patrol spokesman. "They're still
making that trek."

A Troubled Trek

For some undocumented immigrants, the desire to find work in the United
States outweighed the fears. A 30-year-old woman, held earlier this month
at a detention facility near Brownsville, traveled from her home in
Nicaragua to Texas, where she was caught.

She left her two children in the care of a friend and had headed out alone,
hoping to reach the United States, find a job and eventually send money
home. The woman had heard stories of triumph from other travelers. It was
safe, and there was money to earn, others told her.

But what she found was quite different. Along the way she was raped, her
money stolen.

"I wasn't going over there [the United States] to do anything bad. I'm not
that type of person," she said as she wiped tears from her cheek. "And, you
think if you're not going to harm anyone, then nothing bad will happen to you."

She gambled, crossing a frontier saturated with Border Patrol agents.

Nervously rolling a piece of paper in her hands, she said she hopes to be
reunited with her family.

Routes Closed

Not all border areas are observed as closely as the lower Valley, although
they haven't escaped scrutiny. Authorities this summer shut down three
border crossings more than 600 miles northwest of Brownsville. The
unofficial crossings, which lacked inspection stations, were in Lajitas and
in the villages of Boquillas and Santa Elena in Big Bend National Park. The
closures sparked protests on the American side from people who used the
crossings.

Despite the dislocations, Laredo and Rio Grande Valley civic leaders credit
border authorities for holding the line and moving people in and out of
Mexico relatively swiftly and safely.

States. During primary inspections and document processing in El Paso,
authorities open the trailers of all commercial vehicles, looking for
contraband.

"The questions are being asked, the looks are being given, the checks are
being made," explained Rafael Garcia Jr., bridge director for Laredo's four
international bridges. "It's being done so efficiently that you really
can't tell the difference. The people don't realize that they are in fact
at a heightened state of alert because the processing is so efficient."

Mr. Garcia said authorities such as Customs and INS already had procedures
in place before Sept. 11 that "didn't really cause us to jump to a much
higher level of security because we've been at it for a long time."

Commerce Slowdown

Laredo is the world's busiest inland international crossing and a principal
trucking hub. Although drivers still must wait in long lines, it's nothing
out of the ordinary, officials say. Still, the initial tight measures at
ports of entry significantly slowed trade for some companies.

Armando Beltran, vice president for the Mexico operation of motor carrier
Schneider National Inc., said 60 percent of the firm's cargo passes through
the Laredo port of entry. The delays at bridges were not as long as he
expected after Sept. 11.

"It [delays] might have lasted a few days, a few weeks, but after several
weeks, things have really come back close to the way they were pre-9/11,"
Mr. Beltran said.

In those initial days, Mr. Beltran sought customers' patience. Some took
precautions.

"Most of the shippers raised their inventory levels just to prevent any
further delays," Mr. Beltran explained. "So if companies were used to
having so many days of inventory on hand in their warehouses, for the first
few weeks, they might have increased those inventories by 10, 15 or 20
percent."

Today, Mr. Beltran said, it's business as usual.

Further Changes

But the future may bring more change. Like others directly affected by
border developments, Mr. Beltran said his company is working with the
government to find out what needs to be done to not only increase security,
but trade as well. As the nation's focus shifts to homeland security, some
believe still-evolving measures could transform border life.

If it becomes more difficult for Mexicans and Americans to do business in
both countries, it could be disastrous to border cities and Texas, said
Mike Allen, president and chief executive officer of the McAllen Economic
Development Corp.

"If they're [government] going to bottle and shut up so tight the border,
how can we do business? How can people come over here and shop?" Mr. Allen
said.

One thing certain is that the U.S. government wants tighter control of
border entry and exit.

"It's all well-intentioned, and we all support everything that is being
done to protect [the border]," said Mr. Garcia, the Laredo bridge director,
"as long as they don't do it at the expense of the border cities."