Juarez City

CIUDAD JUAREZ, Mexico- The immigration crisis has caused delays in cargo transportation in the border city of Juarez Citydue to the indefinite closure of the Córdova-Américas bridge, which connects the northern Mexican state of Chihuahua with StepTexas, in the United States.

The affectation is due to the fact that the Customs and Border Protection Office (CBP) closed this cargo customs office to direct staff to work in care of migrants who are turning themselves in to US authorities seeking asylum.

The closure of the border transit bridge has caused estimated losses of more than $10 million dollars per day and carriers have taken crossing the international bridges of Zaragoza-Ysleta and Paso del Norte as alternative options.

Manuel Sotelo Suárez, vice president of the National Chamber of Cargo Transportation (Canacar) and president of the Customs Commission, explained that 6,000 trailers cross the area daily, of which 3,000 transport export products and the remaining half transport import products.

“70% cross through Zaragoza, 20% through the Córdova-Américas bridge and 10% through San Jerónimo,” Sotelo explained.

Sotelo added that the trucks that crossed the Córdova-Americas bridge will have to be distributed to other border crossings. However, warned that there would be serious financial effects, as well as waiting times at the crossings.

He added that four years ago, a similar scenario was experienced with the arrival of caravans of immigrants.

For four weeks, he said, an international bridge was closed to exports and $240 million dollars were lost.

Finally, the president of the Canacar asked the Mexican government to do its job of looking after the community and solve the problem of this customs closure on the border between Mexico and the United States.

“Now we will have double the waiting time, with this problem, but no way,” said José, one of the visitors to the city of El Paso, in Texas, in this situation.

“That is wrong, because since the lines are long, the governments (of Mexico and the US) must do something and fix this migration. Those affected are those who cross daily”, added another of the travelers who were heading to the United States.

The region is experiencing a record migratory flow, with 2.76 million undocumented immigrants detained at the United States border with Mexico in fiscal year 2022.

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