The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency has shut down the Eagle Pass, Texas, border crossing – the second-busiest rail gateway to Mexico – due to the worsening migrant crisis.
Union Pacific and BNSF Railway interchange with Ferromex at the Eagle Pass-Piedras Negras gateway, where about 16 trains per day cross the Rio Grande, according to Bureau of Transportation Statistics data.
“The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency closed train traffic at Eagle Pass Wednesday, pausing rail cars,” UP said in a customer advisory last night. “The closure is due to the migrant crisis on the Southern Border. Union Pacific’s other gateways cannot handle the extra traffic and we are notifying our customers of an embargo at Eagle Pass, effective immediately. This will help us better manage your shipments during this dynamic and rapidly developing situation.”
The railroad says it remains in communication with Customer and Border Protection officials and that operations remain normal at UP’s other gateways to Mexico.
On Tuesday the mayor of Eagle Pass, a city of 28,000, signed an emergency declaration due to the surge in undocumented immigrants crossing the Rio Grande. More than 2,500 crossed the river on Wednesday, the New York Times reported, and many migrants are camped out beneath the international railroad bridge.
UP’s interline Falcon and Eagle premium intermodal services use the Eagle Pass gateway. The route also carries millions of cases of Modelo and Corona beer annually that are produced at the Constellation Brands brewery in Nava, Mexico, 25 miles south of the border. Modelo Especial became the top-selling beer in the U.S. in May.
BNSF on Wednesday placed an embargo on traffic interchanged with Ferromex at Eagle Pass as well as at El Paso, Texas. “This embargo is issued to comply with the Department of Homeland Security border closure order at Eagle Pass as well as to ensure the safe, secure, and orderly resumption of interchange at the Eagle Pass and El Paso border crossings following the resumption of northbound FXE service canceled due to safety and security concerns,” the embargo says.
“During the embargo, BNSF will not accept new shipments through El Paso,” BNSF spokeswoman Lena Kent says. “However, as conditions allow, we will move some shipments already en route.”
The Eagle Pass shutdown comes during a turbulent week for cross-border traffic. On Monday, Ferromex temporarily suspended operations in some areas of Mexico due to the large numbers of migrants seeking to hop freight trains to the U.S. border.
Ferromex said that 60 northbound trains were being held for safety reasons. In the past few days about six migrants have been seriously injured or killed trying to board Ferromex trains, the railroad said.
Crowds of migrants have grown significantly in recent days near Ferromex terminals and routes. More than 1,500 people have gathered in Torreón, Coahuila; more than 800 in Irapuato, Guanajuato; and about 1,000 people on the route between Chihuahua and Ciudad Juárez, which is across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.
Eagle Pass handled 243 northbound trains in August, compared to 346 at the top rail border crossing that links Laredo, Texas, with Laredo-Nuevo, Mexico, according to BTS data. Canadian Pacific Kansas City and UP interchange with CPKC de Mexico at Laredo.
El Paso, the No. 3 gateway in Texas, handled 107 northbound trains in August. BNSF and UP interchange with Ferromex at the El Paso-Ciudad Juarez border crossing.
Note: Updated at 2:22 p.m. Central with comment from BNSF.
Insufferable boomers.
The borders aren’t open. We have a whole governmental organization dedicated to securing it: Customs and BORDER PROTECTION. As in protecting the border.
Laredo is less of a problem because it’s a more dangerous city on the Mexico side. The cartels have more power there and migrants know this and stay away if possible. Plus, Ferromex doesn’t go to Laredo and this article concerns Ferromex operations in Mexico.
“Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,” is on a plaque on the Statue of Liberty, welcoming all immigrants. But I guess the ones coming from New York City are the “desirable” ones, and the brown ones coming up from Mexico, or farther away from Central and South America, should be vilified and dehumanized.
Funny, I never see the sensors step in when it’s one right wing rant after another. It’s only when someone calls out your right wing stupidity that some voice from the deep say’s “Now boys cant we all get along”. Seems to me that Trains mag usually has the right wingers back.
Censors, not sensors. Different meanings.
Actually, I was thinking that it was totally the opposite. Everyone has a right to their opinion and just because it doesn’t agree with yours doesn’t mean it should be censored.
I have been a life long Democrat since I voted for George McGovern for President.
Right wing rhetoric often dominates Trains comments and usually has little to do with the subject of the article. However, I applaud Trains for not censoring these sometimes outlandish posts. Freedom of speech must be protected.
Concerning the article, it appears the CPKC Laredo gateway has so far not been impacted by the migrant influx. I wonder why. Is it a matter of geography making the river crossing more difficult for migrants?
CPKC has an extensive security operation just south of the Rio Grande. So they are checked for “riders” before they reach the bridge and then checked again with sensors and other equipment on the US side. Both sides are lit up like Christmas in New York, so even at night its really hard to make an illegal crossing.
Free trade and open borders are bipartisan. NAFTA decimated Mexican agriculture, driving millions out of small rural farms and towns. Mexico, the birthplace of corn, imports most of its corn from US taxpayer subsidized agribusiness giants like Cargill and ADM. US manufacturers like GM shut US plants and pay a few dollars an hour to Mexican workers.
It is silly to blame a single party of demopublicans or republicrats for the mess on the border. The problem has been a festering open wound for decades. I remember crossing the border at El Paso in 1984 after riding the Chihuahua Pacific and watching dozens walk across the Rio Grande and through an open fence. Reagan was president and he legalized millions of illegal immigrants. Both parties absolutely LOVE having sub-minimum wage migrants take jobs from US citizens.
Biden, of course, is senile, corrupt and incompetent. The problem has gotten worse because of free trade, sanctions and recessions south of the border. But the problem is caused by the greed of the elites and corporations.
And don’t forget the greedy unions.
Exactly.
“Free trade and open borders are bipartisan.” Agreed, the Reps. want cheap labor while the Dems. want obligated voters. And even my favorite 3rd party Libertarians, with their past, poorly defined open borders policy, can be problematic.
“On topic…”? Why not try self-censorship? That’s one method to avoid the lethal mixture of of ignorance, arrogance, and stupidity.
What? The Biden administration has plugged one percent of the border holes it threw wide open.
Biden doesn’t care about the men, women and children dying or being sickened or injured in their trek to America. Nor does he care about the millions living in tents on the sidewalk or sleeping in the open air. Or the starving barefoot children who will never see a pediatrician or have a decent meal. All he cares about is the Democrat’s plan for a million illegals illegally voting Democrat in the next election.
Biden is one of history’s great monsters, along with Hitler and Stalin.
Amen to that, Charles. Biden is just a benign idiot. It is his malignant keepers who seek to destroy America. Let’s see how long our politically incorrect posts last before we are censored.
I would caution the suggestion Biden is benign; yet it is the puppet masters pulling the strings at this stage. So obvious. Unfortunately the uniparty Repub members have been complicit in events leading to this overwhelming invasion, and it’s high crime that it continues.