NM hopes for increased tourism with border crossing expansion

The Department of Homeland Security is looking to give Mexican citizens who hold border crossing cards a wider area of the borderland to visit.

Officials in New Mexico hope this will boost the economies of cities like Deming and Las Cruces.

Right now, some Mexican citizens are able to travel 25 miles north of the border if they are eligible for border crossing cards.

The current zone doesn’t include much of New Mexico.

Officials want to expand the zone to 55 miles north of the border and along I-10 to Arizona, allowing Mexicans to travel and shop in southern New Mexico.

Some Las Crucens told ABC-7 they think it’s a great idea. They said they’re not concerned as far as safety goes.

“It’s just simply not a security issue. People going back and forth to do business, tovisit families. No security issue. Period,” said Las Crucen George Griffin.

That seemed to be the sentiment for many Las Crucens.

Las Cruces resident Cesar Marinez said the concept works in El Paso, so it should work well here too.

“Las Cruces is very safe, so I don’t think anything would happen here the way it does in Mexico,” Cesar Marinez.

With the expansion of the border zone, Mexicans who hold border crossing cards could cross over through Santa Teresa, N.M., and head to Las Cruces or Deming.

“I think it’s a good thing for the cities in southern New Mexico as a whole,” said mayor Ken Miyagishima.

New Mexico would be following the lead of Arizona. The border crossing zone there is 75 miles north of the border, so Mexican citizens can go all the way up to Tucson.

“It would make sense that New Mexico would catch up with that. I think that’s been a big stimulator for our friends in southern Arizona as well. I think it can replicate itself here in New Mexico,” Miyagishima said.

DHS officials grant the border crossing cards to what they call “low-risk travelers.” Mexican citizens have to prove they have stable jobs and residences in Mexico. The card allows them to enter the US for up to 30 days.

Some Las Crucens do worry about Mexicans taking advantage of the situation and emigrating illegally.

“That’s fine, as long as they decide not to stay, but this country was built on immigration. It would be hypocritical to say, ‘No, keep them out,'” said Las Cruces resident Tim Slough.

DHS is taking public comment on the issue until Oct. 9. They will make an official decision shortly after that.

To give DHS your feedback, go tohttp://www.dhs.gov/main-contact-us.