TEMPORARY CLOSURE OF PEDWEST PROMPTS CONFUSION AT BORDER
The temporary closure of the PedWest pedestrian crossing caused confusion among border commuters in San Ysidro Thursday.
The lucky ones were able to catch their ride back, but others were forced to run about half a mile to PedEast, the other pedestrian crossing at the port of entry.
“Is it closed?” many people asked.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced Wednesday afternoon that the PedWest border crossing would be temporarily closed to assist Border Patrol in processing the increase in migrants who have recently arrived at the border.
The news came as a surprise to some who are used to taking that route daily.
“I felt bad because I’m going to be late for work,” said Diego Sainz, who lives in Tijuana and works at a warehouse in San Diego. “Many of us cross through here and it was the quickest way to cross to San Ysidro.”
A CBP spokesperson reiterated Thursday that “this is a temporary suspension only.”
“Our expectation is to reopen as soon as operationally feasible,” he added in a statement, but did not say when.
The PedWest pedestrian crossing reopened in January after being closed for almost three years due to the pandemic. It was only operating northbound from 6
a.m. to 2 p.m.
Last month, a group of business organizations and regional stakeholders from both sides of the border sent a letter to CBP requesting the agency to resume southbound operations to accommodate the binational workforce and visitors traveling to Tijuana.
On Wednesday morning, before the news broke, the head of the National Migration Institute, David Pérez Tejada, said that there were talks to do so.
That’s why the decision to temporarily close PedWest “was such a bomb for us,” said Jason Wells, executive director of the San Ysidro Improvement Corporation.
“Our initial reaction was ‘What do Border Patrol operations have to do with us
getting to work, getting to school, getting to home, or to our families everyday?’” he said in a video posted to social media. Wells said CBP told him that PedWest would open by Monday.
CBP said Wednesday that while PedWest is closed to the public, they will open “as many lanes as possible at the PedEast crossing to accommodate those who typically use PedWest.”
Around 8 a.m. Thursday, pedestrians at the front of the line at PedEast reported an average wait of two hours.
Business leaders said that they received the news from CBP in a call yesterday.
Alejandra Mier y Terán, Otay Mesa Chamber of Commerce director, said that during the call, they were also informed that if the demand for processing migrants continues to surge, the Otay Mesa pedestrian crossing could also be temporarily closed.
“It would be catastrophic for us,” said Mier y Terán, who estimated that 70 percent of workers in the Otay Mesa area live in Tijuana.
She said that this would affect not only pedestrians crossing at Otay Mesa, but also those crossing at San Ysidro, since traffic would increase both for pedestrians and vehicles.
A CBP spokesperson said Thursday that the agency “continues to adjust its operational plans to assist the U.S. Border Patrol in processing noncitizens who have arrived between the ports of entry. The possibility of using the Otay Mesa Pedestrian crossing exists as one of its plans in executing contingency measures if needed.”
Some migrant advocates have expressed concern that the decision to close PedWest will stigmatize migrants, reported EFE news agency.
Judith Cabrera de la Rocha, co-director of the Border Line Crisis Center, told EFE that under such discourse “people in Tijuana, mainly those who have a cross-border life and who cross the border continuously, are going to blame migrants for the fact that the border crossing is closed.”