Dear California Reader,

Good morning, Inequality Insights readers. I’m CalMatters reporter Wendy Fry. 

California’s border communities are feeling the strain of long delays at the U.S.-Mexico border. In recent months, lines at the border often stretched for several hours, frustrating the more than 150,000 students, cross-border families, health care workers, small business owners, and others who daily cross to and from Mexico. The federal government is spending billions to reduce border wait times, yet small business owners say long delays are threatening their livelihoods. 

You can take a look at the miserable lines in this CalMatters video. 

San Ysidro has been particularly affected. Local businesses report a noticeable drop in foot traffic, which led to decreasing sales and concerns about the long-term economic health of these border communities.

One local small family-run restaurant, El Rincon, described how it’s affecting their business. “We just don’t get the same amount of people coming in, because people aren’t going back and forth anymore,” said Andrea Alaniz, the daughter of the owner. 

Sunil Gakherja, who owns a perfume store near the border, said delays caused a significant decrease in customers, affecting his bottom line. But more importantly, he feels bad for the people wasting their lives in the line. 

“Money we can replace, but time will never come back,” Gakherja told CalMatters this week. Hear what local business owners and border-crossers think in this CalMatters and The Local video. 

Local business leaders are calling for better solutions to the border delays, such as more efficient staffing of the Customs and Border Protection booths, added during a $741-million expansion at the San Ysidro Port of Entry.  

The situation underscores the strong link between border policy and local economies in Baja California and California. 

Customs and Border Protection says it has had to shift resources to handle large groups of migrants who cross the border irregularly to enter the United States, usually to ask for asylum. 

“CBP has taken significant steps to surge personnel and resources to impacted sectors and address the challenges we are experiencing across the southwest border,” a federal official said in January.

Your favorite state, in photos: CalMatters has teamed up with CatchLight to launch California in Pictures, a new monthly newsletter that highlights compelling photojournalism from across the state. Sign up to receive the first edition on May 1.

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Thanks for reading,
The California Divide Team