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Quality of Life

Roundtable: Cars, Taxis And Walkers At The Border, Housing For Refugees

Roundtable: Cars, Taxis And Pedestrians At The Border
Roundtable: Cars, Taxis And Walkers At The Border, Housing For Refugees
Border Crossing Issues, Refugee HousingPANELJean Guerrero, Fronteras reporter, KPBS News Sandra Dibble, border reporter, The San Diego union-Tribune Tarryn Mento, Speak City Heights reporter, KPBS News

KG: There is a new way to get into Tijuana. You can take a taxi or Uber but next month, watch out. "Carmageddon" is coming. A teenager dies after border officers told him to drink it. Did a refugee agency to lie on applications? KPBS Roundtable starts now. Welcome to our discussion. I am Kenny Goldberg sitting in for Mark Saur. Joining me today is Jean Gerrero. JG: Hello KG: Sandra Dibble who covers the US / Mexican border. SD: Hello. KG: And Tarryn Mento. TM: Hello. KG: Big changes are happening at the port of entry. A new border crossing is opening this week. The Mexican government seems to put a stop on the violent dispute between the yellow taxis and ride sharing services like Uber. A construction project will shut them down through Trinity for theSan Ysidro. Let's talk about the border crossing. Where is it and why do we need it ? SD: We are talking about the PedWest border crossing. We needed because if you have to think about the point of entry, it is a vast and sprawling port of entry. There is a pedestrian border crossing on the east side which is far from the West side. You can cross North and South but up to last week, you have only been able to cross northbound but now we can cross southbound in both directions. That makes a big difference to 19,000 people who cross in either direction every day. KG: 19,000 people a day. How did they used to cross ? SD: They used to cross on the east side. There is a history to this. The pedestrian crossings have changed for the reconstruction since the San Ysidro Port of Entry started. They been crossing on the Eastside in both directions. KG: Is there a difference between the East and the West side ? JG: The site is newer. The difference is the fact that the PedWest does not process vehicles . People who want to get picked up do not have to cross the bridge. It creates more convenience for people who are crossing and want different options. KG: What about the hours? JG: I do not know. SD: North born is 24 hours on PedWest. Southbound is until 10 PM. TM: Does it ease with the congestion ? SD: It has. A year ago, the northbound opened. That has horrendous lines on the east side. Imagine in the heat waiting three hours to cross. I think it has eased considerably depending on the time of the day. KG: The PedWest is part of a larger construction project. Tell us about that. What is going on ? JG: It is a huge project of renovating the port of entry which is said to be the busiest land border crossing and arrow. PedWest was a part of that . Last summer, we saw the opening for northbound pedestrians. And now, we see the southbound lanes opening. The next part of the project is going to add northbound vehicle lanes and bringing it to a total of 33. And doubling the southbound lanes. That will make it easier and faster for people to cross by vehicle. KG: To do that, we're talking about major disruptions next month. What is up with that ? SD: This is an ambitious project. The hardest part is about to happen which means realignment of I-5. Closing the highway. Next month for 57 hours, I think September 23 through the 25th, all southbound vehicle traffic.. That means southbound at San Ysidro, you have to go 70 miles to the east. That will bring a huge amount of congestion. GSA and the other agencies are trying to warn people. If you do not have to cross, don't. Or use the new pedestrian facilities. KG: Let me ask about that. There is a difference in size. Can Otay Mesa handle the traffic ? JG: There is a question if they can handle it. There are fewer lanes. The chamber of commerce, I was there recently. We do not want this to mean that you do not cross the border. You do not have to cross there. cross on foot and take public transport. That is what they are saying. TM: We are talking about 57 hours. How tight is the schedule of the work that is done? Is there outside factors that can push it more? How good are we are predicting this ? SD: I think 57 our completion and then do not think they would suddenly change that. I think that is almost the easy part. The hard part is the next 20 months went there will be reduced capacity. They will go from five southbound lanes to three four two months and the next 18 months, four. That can mean an hour wait. It depends if you have inspections. People are going to be thinking about habits of crossing the border. KG: Absolutely. Speaking about public transportation, it wasn't that long that you are crossing the border on foot and you saw yellow taxis, a plethora of yellow taxis. What is happened ? JG: The mayor of the city of Tijuana has banned them where they used to call got there were a multitude of incidents that led up to that. Part of it was the fact that they were accused of harassing people who wanted to take alternative modes of transportation. In Mexico, Uber started operating in 2012 or 2013. It has been a hard pill for taxi drivers to swallow. They unite against them and tell passengers that they have to take traditional cabs and this is led to fight and bullying. Earlier this summer, there was a violent incident that was recorded on camera. They were passing in San Ysidro and they were waiting for Uber and they got in an argument with a yellow cab driver saying you have to take our cab. It escalated. That was when the city decided enough was enough. KG: Sandra, what is the connection that the taxi drivers union has with the political party? Can you explain that ? SD: Transportation has been politically connected. The taxi driver unions, the yellow taxis are associated with the CROM him which is a federation of unions length to the formerly revolutionary party. That is a system that worked for years. That is how you work things out, through the party when there was only one party world but Mexico has changed. In some ways, yellow taxis seems like it is a remnant of the past. They do not fit in this fractured and changing Mexico. KG: Jean, why did Tijuana crackdown on the taxis? Why now ? JG: I said, the incident earlier this summer but also, they want visitors and tourists, residents to feel comfortable using any mode of transportation. The sidewalks belong to the people and not any single company. He wants there to be mobility in the city. Part of that is the fact that he is trying to rebuild the reputation of Tijuana. There has been an increase of people that are afraid to cross the border and he wants to convey the message that the city is doing what it can to promote tourism and make people feel comfortable coming down and not feeling like they have to be bullied into taking a particular cab pick TM: Between yellow taxi and Uber, there is a similar debate playing out, a power struggle. The taxi driver say that the regulations that they face are higher and stronger than what Uber drivers face and they have to submit to drug testing every couple of times or every couple of years. Is that a factor that we see in Mexico? Is there a difference ? JG: There is a big difference. Uber is not regulated in Mexico. They are operating in a gray realm. There is the perception that it is safer. TM: Taxis? JG: No. Uber. Taxis have a reputation of harassing people. And other parts of Mexico, there is kidnappings related to the taxis. There is kidnappings of foreigners.There is this perception of dangers associated with taxis. TM: Had they had not reports with Uber? JG: There was a problem with Uber that was reported this spring. We do not know what caused it but some are writing. The Uber driver was shot. They were okay but that was a significant interest. KG: We have a clip of the mayor of Tijuana talking about the yellow taxis and how he is using that to promote tourism. [Clip] If you were looking for trouble, you will find trouble. Yes, you will find. If you go and look for doing things right, you are at the right places, you will be fine. JG: Sandra, how safe is Tijuana for tourist ? SD: That is a huge question that is hard to answer. I think it is safe. I believe it is safe if you were going down to go to the culture center and go visit friends. I also think you need to figure out, do I speak Spanish? Can I find my way around? Am I comfortable going there ? It is an individual question. If you do not know Tijuana, maybe you want to go on a tour. As you get more familiar with the city and you figure out which neighborhoods are okay, just measure the risk that you are willing to take. To go to a restaurant or to go to the cultural center? I do not think there is a huge risk. KG: Let's move onto the next segment. A trouble video shot aired this week. Video was from 2013. It shows agents talking to a Mexican teenager. He gestured for him to drink from a bottle he brought with him. They laughed. The bottle contained liquid methamphetamine. The boy died that day. The government paid the family $1 million. The custom agents were not disciplined. Help us understand what happened. Why did the agents ask this young man to drink from the bottle? JG: We do not know for a fact that they asked him to drink. They denied that they asked him to drink. It is not clear from the video what is happening. We see the officers but the backs are turned to the cameras. You do see that they are pushing the bottle towards him. He looks at her confused. She goes like this and she tips her fingers towards her mouth which implies potentially that she is asking him to drink and that's when he drinks. The other officers gestures and he drinks. He hands him the other bottle and he takes two sips. It seems that they are asking him to take a drink but we do not know. KG: Let me ask you. How closely did the agents follow the protocol being suspicious liquids ? JG: The officers are trained when they encounter a suspicious substance to test the substance with agents that are available in test kits. This was steps away from where they were sitting. If they had been following protocol, that would've been the normal thing to do and eventually they did test the substance. Cruz was sweating profusely minutes after taking the steps. They did eventually confirm it was liquid meth. I half an hour after he drank, the paramedics said it was too late. He died a few minutes later. One thing I forgot to mention that is disturbing that the officers repeatedly turned to each other and laughed when they were gesturing with the bottle having him drink. KG: I wanted to ask about that. What kind of investigation was there and what did they conclude? JG: Nothing happened to the officers. First of all, customs conducted an internal investigation. They determine that no clear action was warranted. The officers were not disciplined in any way.This department conducted an investigation. They provided a copy to the attorney who decided not to file charges. The only impact that came of it is that the government gave a settlement to the family. KG: This happened in 2013. Why are we hearing about it now ? JG: The video was released about a week ago by ABC. And when that video was released to the public, there was outrage with the members of Congress who solve the video. They issued statements and requests from the Department of Homeland Security that something should be done and that the officers with the custom border protection received more in depth training to ensure this does not happen again. A congressman Juan Vargas, I spoke with him and he said he requested an immediate response from the department of homeland security to make sure this does not happen. KG: Have we seen changes? JG: Not yet. I did follow-up and I have not received a response but so far it looks like the request is pending. KG: We do have a clip from the attorney of the boys family. His name is Jean and let's hear what they have to say. [Clip] This was a 16-year-old boy who was doing something admittedly wrong for which he deserved possibly to be punished and to be brought before the court and called upon to answer for his conduct. Instead, the agents decided to have a little fun at his expense and take the risk that they imposed on him and he died which is what happened. KG: What is the level of outrage that you are hearing about the case? JG: It is a story that is talked about on social media. People are upset. They want journalists to further investigate if there was actual wrongdoing. It seems that people are confused as to why this was forgotten or it happened in 2013 and we are just hearing about it now and what can be done to make sure it does not happen again. TM: How much do we know about Cruz was aware of about what was in the bottle? And how we got no situation ? JG: We do not why. There was some comments from the family that he had been pressured to do this and he was doing this because he felt that he and his family was at risk if he did not do this. I do not know if he knew how potent it was or if it would be fatal. You can see he is taking very light sips. KG: It was fatal. Thank you very much. Let's move onto the next segment. It is tough for families to find affordable housing in San Diego. Imagine how tough it is for refugees who depend on settlement agencies to help them find a place to live. The rescue committee has been helping large families from Syria get situated here. Some say they help them find a place to lay but it has cost them a big problem. What kind of problem are we talking about? TM: I talked to four families. Three told me specifically that they were directed by the staff to sign leases that omitted family member names from the leases. These are families of seven and eight and six people's names appear on the lease. It seems that the move was intended to get families into smaller apartments because it would be cheaper for them and some of the refugees were told by the staff members, they cannot find houses for you that you can afford. KG: What is wrong with lying on the application ? TM: It says it right there. The lease says occupants that live in the home that are not listed on the lease could be considered in material violation and a result in being asked to leave. That happened to a family and they did not say there were directed to conceal the true number like the others but this family is a family said they told everyone involved, even the manager and the staff members, we are a family of seven. Still, six names were on the lease and they were asked to leave. When I spoke to the supervisor, she told me it was because they were outside the number of occupants that federal housing agencies allows. KG: What are the standards ? TM: This is complicated. Generally, HUD guidelines for subsidized housing says it is a 2+2 rule. There is two people per bedroom +2 more with the overall home. They can sleep in the living room. In California, the general standard is 2+1. That means two people per bedroom plus one additional occupant and the home where the families were put, it can be 2+ one or 2+2, depending on the size of the living room. A landlord can decide how many they want based on being reasonable within the guidelines. The resettlement agencies are expected to follow at the least federal housing guidelines or the local or state guidelines if those are higher. KG: One of the issues is that the families allege that they were told to lie. What did they say ? TM: The IRC said I spoke to the caseworkers and they say they are not doing is. They have not encouraged families to conceal the number of the family from the landlords. The IRC told us they are looking into it but you know, everyone does not seem to be responsible. I do not know the true number of affiliates but there are a lot of agencies across the country. I would not expect them to know about three families. KG: We have a statement from the IRC. Let's take a look at that. It says quote, we are concerned about the reports and we are investigating the situation. The IRC is committed to delivering the best possible settlement experience for clients and we take our responsibilities seriously. That comes from the regional director. This speaks to an overall problem in San Diego, I lack of affordable housing. What is the issue with the larger families? What are the challenges they face? TM: You have a limited amount of federal funding that goes to each family. You have an issue with cost. How far your money go? That is expensive. We know that. We all live here. The other question is, do those homes exist? Are they available? Are four bedroom apartments or homes? If you have three families or for families or five families of six or 78 or 10 people coming in, you have that number of apartments available in the housing stock? The vacancy rates, we are it 20%. That is part of the problem. KG: Am curious how that travel ban affects this. TM: I mean, as we know, right now, they received a lot of refugees over many years and they pointed out how the first time, they were reaching historic lows of the number of refugees. The thing that is interesting is, resources finding that the settlement workers have that is tied to how many cases were settled. You have $2000 per refugee and have of it goes to the refugee to cover shouting and food and the things you need. The other half goes to the agency to do the work. If you're halting the number of refugees coming in, your halting the resources going to the agencies. However the ban plays out, if resettlement picks up, are we going to have the staff properly trained to address this surge of refugees that possibly could come in after this list? That is a question and looking back, the point that I was making when I did the story is that you can see a surge of refugees and have we learned lessons and are we ready to future? KG: San Diego is an expensive place to live. What about less expensive places? TM: I talked to a lot of people with resettlement and looking at immigration policy and trends. I have not found anybody that had heard of this issue of large families being squeezed into smaller apartments. They have not heard that. Jessica is a researcher that we talk with. She did say she looked at resettlement in Chicago and found at least one agency was sacrificing house he housing quality. It is happening at least in Chicago. They receive a lot but not as many as indigo. SD: They would not say? TM: The family emphasized there was no new additional family members that were born during the time. They were the size when they got here. KG: That is all we have time for. That wraps up another week. Thank you to Jean Gerrero, Sandra Dibble and Tarryn Mento. The stories we discussed today are on our website at www.kpbs.org. Thank you for joining us today on the roundtable.

VIDEO OF TEEN DRINKING METH SURFACES

The Story

Video of teenager Cruz Velazquez Acevedo drinking liquid methamphetamine in 2013 at the apparent urging of customs officers at the San Ysidro Port of Entry aired on ABC News last week.

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The 16-year-old boy from Tijuana told the officers the liquid was apple juice. He died of an overdose later that day.

The video spurred some in Congress, including Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, to call for better training of border agents. U.S. Customs and Border Protection spent a year investigating the death and did not discipline the officers.

RELATED: Teenager’s Death At San Ysidro Port Of Entry Inspires Calls For Action

CARMAGEDDON IS COMING

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For 57 hours in September, all cars will be barred from entering Tijuana through the San Ysidro. The crossing between the San Ysidro and El Chaparral Ports of Entry is said to be the busiest land crossing in the world.

The closure, to realign part of I-5, begins Saturday, September 25 at 3 a.m. and lasts until noon on Monday, September 27, thus ensuring that tens of thousands of people from all walks of life - shoppers, business people, students, tourists – will be affected. The aim is to double the number of southbound lanes in the U.S. from five to 10.

Those headed into Mexico by car will be re-routed to Otay Mesa, where Mexico has just five inspection lanes.

The impending mess may be alleviated somewhat by the new PedWest pedestrian crossing into Tijuana, which opened on Monday. 14 million pedestrians cross the border - north and south – each month.

RELATED: Carmageddon at the border? A 57-hour closure planned for southbound car lanes at San Ysidro

NOT-SO-BIG YELLOW TAXIS

The Story

The yellow taxis were everywhere in Tijuana for decades, especially thick in the 40 blocks near the El Chaparral Port of Entry.

But now the Taxis Amarillos are greatly diminished, replaced by other cabs and services like Uber and Lyft.

After a violent confrontation on June 30 between the cab drivers and passengers who wanted to take Uber - which sent one Chula Vistan to the hospital - the city of Tijuana told the cab drivers they had to stay away from nine of those 40 blocks. And they sent in the police to see the new rules were followed. A judge ordered the city to give the sidewalks back, but the mayor refused, saying the judge is corrupt.

The Tijuana police continue to enforce the ban.

RELATED: Tijuana Cracks Down On Yellow Taxis Amid Harassment Of Tourists And Residents

RELATED: Tijuana officials vow to keep yellow taxis away from border

HOUSING REFUGEE FAMILIES FORMIDABLE CHALLENGE

The Story

Some recent Syrian refugees have alleged that the San Diego office of the International Rescue Committee, a refugee resettlement agency, told them to lie about their families’ size on rental applications.

As difficult as it is for anyone in San Diego to find a house or apartment to rent these days, it is much harder for large families of refugees.

If discovered, such a lie could get them evicted.

Resettlement agencies like the IRC must try to fit families in housing within federal guidelines, which stipulate two people to each bedroom and up to two in the living area.

The IRC denies they told anyone to lie. The State Department says it is looking into the claims.

RELATED: Investigation: San Diego Refugees Face Housing Dilemma