Mexican truck drivers have protested at the Calexico East-Mexicali border crossing, shutting down commercial traffic amid rising tensions over the loss of B-1 visas and the application of U.S. cabotage rules.
Mexican media reports said the protest started Thursday morning on the Mexican side of the border crossing between Mexicali, Baja California, and Calexico, California. The commercial crossing was blocked by drivers demanding that US authorities be more explicit about what activities could lead to them losing their visas.
According to AFN Tijuana, a number of Mexican truck drivers have had their B-1 visas revoked following inspection and questioning by U.S. authorities as to their activities in the United States.
The National Chamber of Freight Transportation (CANACAR) warned this Wednesday that drivers from Mexicali and the surrounding region are preparing a demonstration that could cause the closure of the commercial border crossings in Mexicali and San Luis Río Colorado from 5:00 a.m. on Thursday.
The CANACAR office in Mexicali suggested that the transport companies stay close to the situation and take the necessary precautions, expecting possible disruptions that could affect access to the border and transportation and logistics operations.
The protest comes amid ongoing friction in Mexico’s trucking industry over U.S. authorities’ enforcement of restrictions on Mexican commercial drivers working on B-1 visas.
Under current law, Mexican drivers with B-1 visas are allowed to transport international cargo across the border between Mexico and the U. They aren’t allowed to do cabotage—that is, to move domestic freight from one point in the United States to another.
Those who drove in Thursday’s protest want more concrete guidance from U.S. authorities on what is cabotage and what could get a B-1 visa revoked.
Protesters said that 17 drivers in Mexicali had visas revoked this week, reported Mexican media outlets including Quadratín Baja California. But the date of those revocations has not been independently confirmed by FreightWaves and has varied from report to report.
CANACAR’s representative in Mexicali, Ismael Reyes de la Rosa, said in a television interview Thursday that the organization is asking drivers who have lost their visas to identify themselves so CANACAR can investigate what happened in each case.
Reyes de la Rosa said he knew of 11 people personally whose visas had been taken and called for a closer look at the circumstances surrounding those cases.
The protest seems to have been organized by the drivers themselves and not officially coordinated by CANACAR. Several participants told Mexican media the blockade was organized by the truckers themselves.
The Calexico East-Mexicali Port of Entry is a major commercial crossing, with an average of 1,255 commercial trucks crossing the border each day and an estimated $2 billion in cross-border trade per year. The border crossing acts as a gateway for a wide range of industrial, automotive, medical and agricultural products.
Truck drivers were protesting at the commercial crossing in San Luis Rio Colorado, Sonora, Thursday reports said. Drivers have been warned that if authorities do not address their concerns, protests could spread to other border crossings, including Tijuana.
FreightWaves reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for more information.
The logistics and transport industry is following the situation closely, worried that a long or expanding blockade could impact freight capacity and cross-border supply chains. A prolonged shutdown of any of the major commercial border crossings between the U.S. and Mexico could disrupt the flow of freight and add more pressure to an increasingly sensitive dispute between Mexican truck drivers and U.S. border authorities.
Why it matters: Extended or increasing protest of the B-1 visa restrictions could affect trucking capacity and freight traffic at the U.S.-Mexico commercial crossings and could have serious consequences for cross-border logistics and supply chains.
