According to Association of American Railroads President and CEO Ian Jefferies, two rail crossings along the U.S. border with Mexico that have been closed due to the surge in crossing migrants is costing in economic impact hundreds of millions of dollars every single day.
“Well, right now, we continue to see the two bridges out of operation, and we understand that the federal officials are dealing with an unprecedented surge in migrant activity and the associated humanitarian crisis that comes along with that,” Jefferies told CNBC’s “The Exchange” on Thursday. “However, at the same time, we must strike the right balance that allows for freight to move north and south across the border safely and securely.”
(Video: CNBC)
In one form or another, the failure to provide safe passage for the freight trains is affecting nearly every American.
According to host Kelly Evans, “These are big passings. Union Pacific alone moves $200 million a day in freight through these lines, or 45% of their cross-border business. ”
“Combined overall,” Evans said, “El Paso and Eagle Pass are nearly $34 billion, or 36% of all cross-border rail traffic in the past year, according to government statistics.”
“[T]hat spreads across our customer base,” Jefferies explained. “That’s farmers, that American businesses, that’s American workers who are all being impacted by this. And it’s time to stop holding American farmers and businesses hostage and allow them to move their goods across the border, goods that so many people rely upon.”
The goods primarily carried on these freights include “an immense amount of agricultural products moving for export down to Mexico,” Jefferies said. “And you have finished autos, you have auto parts moving north and south. You have chemicals. You have consumer goods.”
“Pretty much every type of product that we move moves in some way, shape, or form either north or south across these two bridges, resulting in about 40% of all freight rail cross-border movements on the border,” he stated.
As BizPac Review reported, the Biden administration’s U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) announced last week that the bridge crossings were closed down “in order to redirect personnel to assist the U.S. Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody.”
The invasion is reaching more insane levels and is actually shutting down rail access to process these illegals.
Our government is intentionally trying to destroy your Country. pic.twitter.com/94AEidDxxy
— RareImagery (@RareImagery) December 19, 2023
According to Jefferies, this is the second time that commerce has been halted “in just over a month.”
“And it’s something that should not be taken lightly,” he added.
“What we’re talking about really is a handful of U.S. agents that are required to staff these bridges,” he said. “And, again, we understand there’s a crisis that needs to be dealt with. But redeploying that handful of agents does very little to support migrant processing, but really, as we are seeing, has a dramatic impact on freight goods movement internationally across the border.”
When asked by Evans about a timeline to reopen the lines, Jefferies replied, “Well, we have not been given any guidance on that.”
“And that’s a key part of the challenge right now is the inability to plan,” he said. “Our view is that these bridges need to be reopened today. They should have been reopened yesterday for all the reasons that we mentioned. And so, we are imploring and continue to implore, along with so many other industries and affected individuals and stakeholders, to reopen these bridges today.”
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Melissa Fine is the former executive editor of Casino Player, Strictly Slots, and Poker
Digest magazines. She is a UCLA graduate, news junkie, and dedicated Stargate SG-
1 fan. Melissa currently lives with her dog and two cats in a tiny town in the Sierra
Nevada foothills.
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