California Gov. Gavin Newsom visited the border in San Diego County Thursday to announce construction beginning in January on a new road leading to the long-awaited Otay Mesa East port of entry.
The next step forward in the project is decades in the making.
“We’ve been talking about this Otay East port of entry since quite literally the late 1990s,” Newsom said. “We’re finally here to make the announcement that we’re going to be moving forward in the next few weeks. We’ve identified a contractor. We’re going to be moving forward with building the roads right behind us to get down to this section of the border.”
Newsom added that the state has been working with the White House and the Department of Homeland Security to formalize the design contract and partnership agreement by the end of the month. He said the port of entry is on track to open by December 2027.
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At issue in negotiations is staffing, specifically who will run the port of entry and how.
“It's been a stubborn project for one reason and one reason alone. Full disclosure: operational questions of how we manage this new port of entry and the funding that comes from actively managing it,” Newsom said. “And that's the process that is unfolding in real time as it relates to the details of this final agreement that we're working with the White House.”
Newsom said he “didn’t want to make this too political.” But in a conversation on commerce, he found it seemingly impossible to avoid talk of tariffs, taking aim at President-elect Donald Trump floating the idea of taxing imports.
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“Tariff’s a tax that you pay for. Not even complicated,” Newsom said, pointing to confusion over what a tariff would do. “This is one of the biggest tax increases in U.S. history that that this guy Donald Trump just proposed. That’s a hell of a thing.”
His office noted that Mexico is California’s top export market, buying $33.3 billion of goods each year, and the state’s second-largest source of imports, worth $61.5 billion.
“The cost of food that will go up, the cost of tomatoes, the supermarket, the vegetables, over half that come in from Mexico,” Newsom said.
He also brought up Trump’s unspecified promise of mass deportations, pointing to the potential impact particularly on agriculture. Newsom said about half of farm workers in California are undocumented, the vast majority having been in the state for years.
“The impacts of mass deportation on the cost of food in this state, in this nation, are off the charts. This is serious business,” he said. “This is a serious moment in California’s history.”
Also part of the announcement Thursday, CalGuard will add analysts to state and federal task forces investigating the flow of weapons and money from the U.S. into Mexico – fueling cartel activity – for a more collaborative border security effort.
