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U.S. tracks heaviest border-crossing points

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Almost 800,000 people per day entered the United States from Mexico last year, while more than a quarter million people came in over the U.S.-Canada every day in 2000, according to a new report from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

For the year, 290 million people entered the United States over the Mexican border while 96 million entered over the Canadian border.

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"The report provides important information on cross-border transportation with Canada and Mexico, our largest trading and travel partners," said Ashish Sen, director of the Bureau of Transportation Statistics. "With this report, transportation decision-makers will have more data for decisions about security at border facilities and about capacity needs."

The statistics include returning Americans and repeat visitors.

The release of the 2000 figures come as increased scrutiny is being placed on the U.S. borders following the September 11 attacks. Some of the suspected hijackers are believed to have entered the northeast region of the United States from Canada.

The busiest crossing points along the Canadian border were in the Buffalo, New York-Niagara area and Detroit. On the Mexican border, crossing points in El Paso, Texas, and San Ysidro, California, handled a third of the traffic.

While 94 percent of those entering from Canada crossed in personal vehicles, on the Mexican border 83 percent used personal vehicles while 16 percent traveled by foot.

The busiest truck crossing in the United States was Detroit, handling approximately 5,000 southbound trucks a day, carrying $240 million in merchandise. Laredo, Texas, was the busiest truck crossing on the Mexican border with about 4,100 northbound trucks carrying $160 million in merchandise each day.

Before September 11, most vehicles were waved through U.S. border checkpoints. Now, since border officials went to the highest level of alert, nearly every vehicle gets looked over. Inspections include an examination of the trunk and the engine compartment.

In the two weeks immediately following the terrorist attacks, drug seizures along the 1,962-mile U.S.-Mexico border fell 80 percent compared with the same period last year, according to a report by The Associated Press. But the trend has since reversed. Customs Service seizures of marijuana between September 24 and October 25 are up anywhere from 58 percent along the South Texas border to 394 percent in Arizona.

Altogether, more than 32,000 pounds were confiscated in Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, the AP reported.

In Southern California, where the records are kept differently, an 11 percent increase in marijuana seizures was recorded in the first 25 days of October. Nearly 31,500 pounds were seized, the AP reported.

The situation is similar at the U.S.-Canadian border, though the seizures are in far smaller quantities than at the Southwest border, a customs spokesman told the AP.