Mexican truckers block Santa Teresa

Apr. 13—Northbound trucks coming from Mexico into the U.S. through the Santa Teresa Port of Entry were backed up as far as the eye could see on Tuesday after Mexican truckers extended a two-day trade blockade in Texas to New Mexico's border crossing.

Mexican truckers began blocking northbound commercial traffic Monday at the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge in Texas to protest Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's order for that state's Department of Public Safety to conduct extra inspections for vehicles coming from Mexico into Texas. Abbott gave the order in response to President Joe Biden's decision to end pandemic-related restrictions at the border.

But the additional inspections angered Mexican truckers, because they come on top of federal vehicle examinations already done by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at all commercial crossing points, plus inspections conducted at Border Patrol checkpoints along Texas highways.

And with commercial traffic backing up in Texas, Customs and Border Protection began diverting trucks to neighboring ports of entry, including Santa Teresa in New Mexico, said Jerry Pacheco, executive director of the International Business Accelerator, which works to recruit trade-related companies to industrial parks that operate just north of the border.

The diversion significantly increased northbound commercial traffic through Santa Teresa over the weekend, providing an alternative entryway for trucks to cross just east of El Paso, Pacheco said.

But on Tuesday, Mexican truckers began blocking the northbound commercial crossing lane at Santa Teresa, effectively extending their protest blockade from Texas to New Mexico.

"Some of the protesting truckers probably don't even realize Santa Teresa is in New Mexico, not Texas," Pacheco told the Journal. "At a higher level, some protest organizers may want to pressure New Mexico to take a stand against Abbott. But that's silly, because we don't have anything to do with Texas state policies."

It's unclear if the protesters at Santa Teresa are being led by Mexican labor organizations or acting on their own.

"We don't know if it's a union, or possibly rogue truckers who are confused or misguided and they came here," Pacheco said.

The Santa Teresa blockade could fizzle out quickly.

"Some local officials spoke with protesters on the Mexican side to tell them their frustration is misguided, being a New Mexico port of entry," Pacheco said. "They were very receptive and said the protest would likely extend for just a few more hours."

But in the meantime, the blockade is significantly disrupting trade and costing money for all businesses connected to border commerce. Assembly firm Foxconn, for example — which assembles about 70,000 Dell and HP computers and tablets per day in a sprawling facility on the Mexican side of the border in San Jerónimo — depends on "just-in-time" delivery to U.S. customers through the Santa Teresa crossing.

"All that has been interrupted," Pacheco said. "Border delays affect everything coming in from Mexico. Every minute trade is delayed at the port is a minute of lost revenue all along the supply chain, and the truckers are hurting themselves, because if the their trucks aren't rolling they're losing money."

The economic impact is rapidly mounting in Texas. The Pharr-Reynosa border crossing is one of the busiest trade ports on the U.S.-Mexico border, and is the largest land port for produce entering the U.S.

Judge Richard Cortez of Hidalgo County in Texas, which includes the international bridge in Pharr, called it a "crisis" that's fundamentally disrupting normal business activity.

"You're talking about billions of dollars," Cortez told the AP. "When you stop that process, I mean, there are many, many, many people that are affected."

Abbott says stepped-up inspections are needed to curb human trafficking and the flow of drugs. But critics question how the inspections are meeting that objective, while business owners and experts say the impact is already being felt and warned that U.S. grocery shoppers could notice shortages as soon as later this week.

Joe Arevalo, who owns the cold-storage border warehouse Keystone Cold, said Texas state troopers have always inspected some trucks crossing the border, but they've never held up a complete supply chain.

"We're living through a nightmare, and we're already suffering through a very delicate supply chain from the pandemic and to try to regrow business," Arevalo told the AP.

Frustration is also spreading to members of Abbott's own party. Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican, called the inspections a "catastrophic policy" that is forcing some trucks to reroute hundreds of miles to Arizona.

Associated Press writers Paul J. Weber, Acacia Coronado, Susan Montoya and Mark Stevenson contributed to this report.