Wait times to increase at border crossings
Area agents sent elsewhere to help deal with migrant caravan
SANTA TERESA — New Mexico’s busiest border crossing is expected to experience delays because U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers from here are among those deployed to Arizona and California to prepare for the migrant caravan.
Some of those CBP officers departed on charter flights from El Paso on Thursday after the first families in the migrant caravan from Central America arrived in the Mexican border city of Tijuana.
CBP announced it was diverting “a large number of specially trained CBP officers” from Santa Teresa in New Mexico and El Paso and Tornillo in Texas and advised that would lead to “longer than normal wait times at area ports” beginning Wednesday.
“Cross-border travelers should expect lanes to be closed and anticipate processing times to increase,” said El Paso Director of Field Operations Hector Mancha. “We suggest reducing or consolidating your cross-border trips, and if you must cross the border, build extra time into your schedule to accommodate these expected delays.”
Usual wait times in the area range from 20 to 45 minutes, according to CBP, although some border crossers report it can take more than an hour to traverse in some areas.
A total of 573 CBP officers nationwide were sent to meet the
caravan, CBP said, but the agency did not provide a breakdown showing where the officers are based or how long they will be away from their usual assignments.
The staffing shortage is expected to impact pedestrian and vehicle traffic, as well as commercial trucks using area ports, including the Santa Teresa border crossing.
“We certainly don’t want to see wait time increase,” said Jerry Pacheco, CEO of the Santa Teresa-based Border Industrial Association. “That affects commerce, that increases costs. That causes inefficiencies.”
An estimated $22 billion in goods move through the port of entry, which accounts for more than half of all of New Mexico’s global exports, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
“Here at Santa Teresa we’re often on the razor’s edge of not having enough agents,” Pacheco said. “The regulars and the locals really have to pay for this. To me, it’s obvious rather than spending money on a border wall.”
Border residents in the southern New Mexico region will have to contend with delays even during rush hour when the “All Lanes Open Initiative” is in effect between 6 and 10 in the morning to ease the commute for thousands of people who cross to work or attend classes on the U.S. side, including New Mexico State University students.
Predicted delays at the border could not come at a worse time for New Mexico retailers, who depend on shoppers from Mexico. Those shoppers spend an estimated $2 billion a year in the region, according to the Borderplex Alliance, which promotes economic development in the Las Cruces, El Paso and Ciudad Juárez region.
Some of those shoppers are visitors from the interior of Mexico, including Chihuahua, who prefer to bypass heavy traffic in Juárez by taking the Santa Teresa border crossing, which is a short drive from an outlet mall and Interstate 10.
Border crossings increase during the holiday season along with wait times as families from Mexico visit relatives on the U.S. side. Some also plan their Christmas shopping trips to take advantage of Black Friday and other deals.
Both big box stores and small shops benefit. The Chocolate Lady in historic Mesilla already has Christmas candy on display.
“Mesilla is a destination spot,” said Lucy Rathgeber, the Chocolate Lady manager.
Located right on the plaza, the shop sees the number of customers triple on weekends, according to Rathgeber.
“It’s Little Mexico because we have so many that come here,” she said.
Rathgeber said she hopes the craving for hand-crafted chocolate will outweigh the hassle of waiting in long lines to cross the border.
“Everybody likes sweets,” she said.