SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — The Smart Border Coalition says close to 18 million people, on foot and in cars, legally crossed the border through California’s seven ports of entry during the second quarter of 2024.

Joaquin Luken, the group’s executive director, says overall stats show a 3.3% increase from 2024’s first quarter.

“Just passed over 200,000 daily crossings in the entire Cali-Baja region, San Ysidro alone has around 90,000,” said Luken, whose group aims to improve travel through the ports of entry in the San Diego-Tijuana binational region. “These are people that are coming across for work, for school, to get medical attention or to save money on the cost of living.”

Luken said it’s evident there is a co-dependency among people on both sides of the border.

“We can’t avoid talking about our family ties, our cultural ties, which are just a given, we’re so close to one another,” he said. “We really need efficient ports of entry to go back and forth.”

Luken pointed out fewer people are crossing the border on foot when compared to previous years.

“That means a lot more people are now using cars, and that’s adding to congestion on the streets, and of course pollution in our shared airways, we have to provide more options for people to cross,” he said.

Luken wants federal agencies to provide more resources to help U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers and agents who work at the ports of entry.

He would also like to see bike lanes to help ease the need for cars at the border.

“There’s no access to the ports of entry on bikes, you can walk your bike through the pedestrian facility, wait for three hours with your bike in hand and cross, but there’s no actual bike crossing lane.”

Luken believes the key to quality of life for border commuters is efficient ports of entry and other facilities such as modern truck crossings.

“Otay Mesa’s commercial side has anywhere from four to 4,200 crossings every day,” he said. “We’ve been hearing about near-shoring, companies establishing themselves on the northern part, quick access to market, quick turn around for their products and the biggest market available, which is the United States.”

During April, May and June, according to Smart Border Coalition, 4.7 million people crossed the border on foot through California’s seven ports of entry with an additional 17.9 million in cars.

California’s seven ports of entry are San Ysidro, Otay Mesa, CBX, Tecate, Calexico West, Calexico East and Andrade.