New Frontier: America's Front Door

J U A R E Z, Mexico, June 5, 2001 -- Filiberto Martinez and his family are among the thousands of Mexicans who have flocked to the border town of Juarez in search of a better life.

"In our last apartment," says his wife, Ana Maria, "we had to share the bathroom with nine other families."

"Back on the ranch in Durango [Mexico]," says Filiberto, "there is no water, the land is gone, and there is nothing to do. So people are running to the borders to get jobs."

Martinez is among the fortunate few who have bought homes here. It is a two-room cinder-block structure, but it has plumbing and electricity.

He did it with financial help from his American employer, Delphi, one of 400 U.S.-owned plants, or maquiladoras, in Juarez. Many are high-tech facilities, where employees work for as little as $5 a day to turn out low-cost goods that pour in the United States — everything from auto parts to communications systems. But while the plants are symbols of modern technology, the residential areas are the opposite.

An estimated 50,000 people come to Juarez every year looking for work. Most of them find it. What they don't find are basic services: 150,000 people have no water; 200,000 have no sewers. And every week Juarez grows by three more blocks.

Juarez officials complain that the government in Mexico City has failed to provide money to resolve the crisis, even though the city generates enormous tax revenue. Mayor Gustavo Elizondo says Juarez produces, in federal taxes, about 15 billion pesos, or more than $1.5 billion.

"We get only 6 percent in return for the total taxes the businesses generate," he adds.

'Major Public Health Crisis'

And just across the border, there is a similar complaint. Officials in El Paso, Texas, say Washington has turned a deaf ear to the urgent needs of this booming frontier.

"I keep saying that if you don't help us, we're going to have a major public health crisis on the border," says Ed Archuleta, general manager of the El Paso Water Utilities.

He adds, "Why have NAFTA? Why have free trade if you're not going to take care of the basic necessities of water and sewer?"

Even though El Paso has enough water right now, the two cities share a common aquifer that is rapidly being depleted. And they share other problems, as well.

"The border does not affect the passage of air," says Jon Amastae, director of the Center for Inter-American Border Studies at the University of Texas, El Paso. "The border does not affect water. The border does not affect viruses and bugs. Health care on one side matters on the other side."

That's because this border is almost nonexistent, as 50,000 people cross it every day to attend school, to work, to shop. And 4,000 trucks add to the already serious air pollution. American Teamsters also complain that the trucks crossing over from Mexico do not meet the safety requirements U.S. truckers must satisfy.

Jim Barlow of Teamsters Local 745 in El Paso says there are not nearly enough inspectors at the border. "There are not enough people and there's not enough time," he says. "It would take hundreds of people to inspect this equipment and do it properly."

He says a recent survey by the Teamsters found that 58 percent of the trucks coming from Mexico should have failed inspection, with problems ranging from poor brakes to bald tires.

Cheap Labor to the South

Meanwhile, as Juarez booms, El Paso is going bust. Companies like Levi Jeans, for example, are shuttered and empty, after moving operations south of the border in search of cheap Mexican labor.

"They started sending material to Mexico," says former garment worker Connie Turk, "and we ended up without a job."

Turk has taken advantage of a North American Free Trade Agreement program that provides tuition for retraining for displaced workers. She hopes to work as a medical receptionist.

Other workers are taking jobs at service centers like the one EchoStar has opened in El Paso. There, 2,000 workers answer phones around the clock from callers in both countries who have questions about their satellite television service.

"Being so close to Mexico," says EchoStar executive Steve Schnettgrund, "allows us to hire not only someone who is Spanish-speaking but somebody who understands the culture."

Still, the more interesting high-tech jobs are in Juarez. Lorenzo Rodriquez is an engineer at Delphi. "The maquiladoras have become more technical in nature," he says, "and I think that has opened up some very good opportunities for Mexican technicians."

Those who study the new border frontier, however, say the jury is still out on the trade agreement's overall impact. "Economists tend to view it as a positive," says the University of Texas' Amastae. "People who look at the social costs that tend to be a little more hidden are not at all sure."

Don't tell that to the Martinez family. So far, they like what they see. Their daughter, Ana Patricia, says, "I like my TV!" Her mother likes the privacy their humble home provides. And her father dreams of becoming a supervisor at Delphi.

They are living not the American dream, but the border dream. And tens of thousands of people are lining up right behind them.