San Ysidro, San Diego, California

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View of U.S.-Mexico barrier (and Tijuana, Baja California beyond it) from San Ysidro, California.

San Ysidro is a community within the city of San Diego, California. It is located in the southernmost part of San Diego County, California, immediately north of the international border with Mexico. It was annexed by the city of San Diego in 1957. Even though National City, Chula Vista, Coronado, and Imperial Beach are all cities in between San Ysidro and the rest of the San Diego, the two are still contiguous. The two areas are connected by a narrow 400ft wide city boundary line that runs over the San Diego Bay. Thus, crossing water is the only way to get from San Diego to San Ysidro without leaving city limits.

San Ysidro is named for San Ysidro Labrador (Saint Isidore), patron saint of farmers. Furthermore, San Ysidro is the site one the nation's first communes; started by an Ellsworth Smythe in 1908.[1]

[edit] Border crossing

Traffic in Tijuana, Mexico waiting at the San Ysidro port of entry.

Cars and pedestrians in San Ysidro entering Mexico.

San Ysidro is home to the world's busiest land border crossing, where U.S. Interstate 5 crosses into Mexico at Tijuana. In U.S. fiscal year 2005, more than 17 million vehicles and 50 million people entered the U.S. at the San Ysidro port of entry. The great majority of these are workers (both of Mexican and U.S. nationality) commuting from Tijuana to jobs in the greater San Diego area and throughout southern California. There is also a thriving reverse traffic, both of workers traveling to maquiladoras in Mexico and those purchasing services (vehicle repairs, hair and beauty services, childcare, medical and dental) or seeking entertainment in Tijuana. Crossing times are notoriously slow at San Ysidro, particularly for those entering the U.S. in cars. For this reason many cross on foot, the line for which is frequently much faster than the vehicle line. Some foot travelers own a car in each country, and store them in one of the large parking lots located near the border post, or use the respective public transportation systems of both cities (both systems have a bus station built solely to serve the border crossing point, and the San Diego Trolley runs from downtown San Diego to the border crossing).

Beach in Tijuana at the border.

Many people frequently visit the fence that separates the beaches at the international border (known as Playas de Tijuana in Mexico, and Border Field State Beach in the United States). On Sundays in particular, people go to speak to their friends and family members through the rusty fence, all under the careful eye of U.S. Border Patrol personnel who watch with binoculars from the hillside nearby. State Page

[edit] Crime

The rusty barrier at the western-most point of the 1,951 mile U.S.-Mexico border runs right into the sea.

San Ysidro is also believed to be among the busiest sites for the importation of illegal drugs into the U.S. Much of this is smuggled in cars or trucks, but some is transported through one of the custom-built tunnels constructed by narcotraffickers under the border.

Central to the Tijuana drug trade is the Tijuana Cartel, also known as the Arellano-Felix Organization (AFO).

In 1984 a spree killing occurred at a McDonald's restaurant in the community, when James Oliver Huberty killed 21 people before himself being shot and killed by police officers (see McDonald's massacre).

On May 18, 2006, the border crossing was closed for nine hours after federal authorities shot and killed the driver of a car bound for Mexico, just 50 feet north of the Port of Entry. The vehicle was reportedly seen picking up illegal immigrants. [2]

Due to crime that originates from Tijuana, and corruption within several government organizations of Mexico, there have been several border incursions by Mexican officials into southern San Diego. [3]

[edit] See also

• San Diego/Tijuana megalopolis

[edit] External links

• San Ysidro Chamber of Commerce
• Catholic Forum's page on Saint Isadore