Hundreds of commercial trucks wait, from this Saturday, April 9, for hours – some more than 40 – in a line to cross the border from the Mexican city of Ciudad Juárez to El Paso, after the governor of Texas, Gregg Abbott, order state troopers to step up inspections of northbound vehicles. “I’ve been here since 3 pm yesterday, I still haven’t been able to cross,” says Mexican trucker José Alberto Marín as he waits to arrive at the port of entry. “Who knows how much longer it will take,” he added, reporting that he was transporting a load of lamps bound for the United States. Commercial border crossings between Ciudad Juarez and El Paso slowed to a crawl after Abbott ordered the Department of Public Safety on Wednesday to begin conducting “enhanced security inspections” of vehicles at international ports of entry to Texas. Abbott’s order cited “cartels that smuggle contraband and illicit people across our southern border” as the reason for the increased measures. Manuel Sotelo, vice president of the northern region of the National Chamber of Merchandise Transport of Mexico, warns that the long waiting times could be a “catastrophe” for the region’s import and export industries. Ciudad Juárez is home to hundreds of factories, some of them owned by US or international companies, that manufacture everything from car parts to electrical and medical equipment, and many of them are destined for export.
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