By Ana Gomez Salcido

The presidential race and the relationship between Mexico and the United States were the main points of discussion at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Congressional Luncheon, held this Monday, June 20.

“One of your jobs as congress members is to bridge what’s important in San Diego to what’s happening in Washington,” said Congressman, Scott Peters. “The border has been a big success for us. One of first things we did was work together to get infrastructure money for the San Ysidro Port of Entry, and that’s been a big success. We want to make sure the cross border trade is successful, we know it has a very good impact in our economy.”

Peters participated in a question and answer session along with Congresswoman Susan Davis, Congressman Duncan Hunter, and Congressman Darrell Issa.

“People here don’t think like Trump, we don’t see the border as a threat, we see it as an opportunity” added Congressman Peters.

Nearly 500 business executives, community leaders, and local elected officials were in attendance at the event held at Hilton San Diego Bayfront.

Congressman Peters said to La Prensa San Diego that in Washington there still is a lot of ignorance about the importance of the border.

“It depends on where you come from. A lot of people are ignorant of the importance of the trade with Mexico in particular,” said Peters. “If we spread the word of how important is Mexico as a trading partner across the country, not just in California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, people will understand it better and maybe we would have more better policy.”

Congressman Peters added that many misconceptions about Mexico still exist.

“Unfortunately there is a lot of misinformation and racism, and we need to break through that.”