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ccording to an April story in The Wall Street Journal, a State of Sonora tollbooth at the end of the paved road in the border region has been set up to charge US$3 per vehicle for those driving the dirt road the next (98 km.) to Sasabe, Mexico, 70 miles (113 km.) south of Tucson, Ariz. One likely reason? The 200 or so vehicles that pass through daily during the spring rush of illegal migrants to the U.S., as Sasabe has become a launching pad for illegal crossings since beefed up Border Patrol arrests have squeezed other points of entry.

Doniele Kane, spokesperson for Kansas City Southern Railway, says this border-crossing bridge at Nuevo Laredo "has ample capacity to handle current and projected traffic for many years. However, bottlenecks in the border region do exist and are caused by inefficient processes." In addition to pre-filing and documentation improvements already in place, an Enhanced Security Partnership between Kansas City Southern de Mexico and governmental leaders is designed to improve system velocity and fluidity in the area, she says. To help further things even faster, "we are considering further process improvements," she says, "such as creation of a cross-border international rail crew system and a non-stop system that does not require trains to change crews in the middle of the bridge as is currently done." Photo: KCSM

   The situation also was captured in a statement by producer-director Courtney in the Austin American-Statesman, as she contemplated the Mexican families broken apart by the usual cycle of migration-and-remittance: "The Mexican government also needs to play a larger role to provide alternatives to immigration, to create jobs in their communities so that men don't leave," she said. In fact, two Mexican women featured in her film about the subject had their visa applications to attend the screening denied by U.S. officials.
   The cynical view of the Sasabe tollbooth establishment explains in part why relations between Mexico and the U.S. have been on thin ice that may be growing thinner as the U.S. Congress and general populace debate immigration reform. But the follow-up question is this: When will substantial projects, of maquiladora or greater value, pop up frequently enough on the Mexican side of that border to make that region a destination of choice?
   It's not as if the effort isn't there. In fact, a cycle within the cycle of U.S.-to-Mexico remittances exists between the country's northern region, where maquilas have been established for over 30 years, and its interior. But in many cases maquila employees historically have either fled back home, or stayed until they could collectively amass enough cash to make a run for it. Thus begins the cycle of remittances and migration that one Fortune 100 corporate real estate executive says is "never any stronger than its weakest link. It has been going on for years and there is not much anyone can appear to do to change it."
   In part that's because even migrant labor in the U.S. pays better and comes with access to so much that is inaccessible in Mexico, no matter what kind of working conditions the maquilas present. "They are willing to put up with the risks and dangers posed by not having a green card or not being 'legal,' says the executive. "They don't really want to live forever on the Mexican side of the border because the grass is always greener on the other side."
   Sometimes remitted green is coming back: Not only is there a middle-class housing and consumer boom now unfolding in Mexico, there are plenty of Mexican shoppers and tourists crossing the borders into U.S. states (3.7 million came to California in 2004), boosting U.S. regional economies with dollars the U.S. may recognize.