SUNLAND PARK, New Mexico (Border Report) – The Mexican government has endorsed the construction of a new border crossing between Juarez, Mexico, and Sunland Park, New Mexico.
The mayors of Juarez and Sunland Park made the announcement at a news conference this past weekend, breathing life into a decades-old project many residents had long given up for dead.
“We have a very dynamic border, and approval of this project is a great step toward seeing it done,” Juarez Mayor Cruz Perez Cuellar said.
The project still faces major hurdles in the United States, where the Biden administration must review and issue a Presidential Permit before any work is done. The White House last issued such a permit in 2020, for the expansion of the Pharr International Bridge, according to the State Department website.
But Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea remains optimistic and even upbeat. He said the city has already submitted an application for a Presidential Permit and is waiting to hear from the White House.
“This is the closest we have ever been to getting this port of entry,” Perea told Border Report on Monday. “This is now a federally recognized project in Mexico and eligible for federal funding. The benefit of having a port of entry here is it helps alleviate wait times at all area border crossings.”
Perea said the border crossing – which requires a $120 million investment on the U.S. side and $40 million on the Mexican side – will detonate economic growth in this city of 16,000 people just west of the state line from El Paso, Texas.
“This is a big chance for the community to have a Downtown, to sustain the economic growth of the city and bring more services,” he said, adding the city is pursuing a toll-collection model for the crossing. El Paso uses such a model for vehicles leaving the U.S. over its city-run bridges.
The Camino Real Tierra Adentro land crossing would also be a bridge, not because a river divides Sunland Park from the Anapra neighborhood of Juarez, but because traffic would have to go over Union Pacific railroad tracks running parallel to the border wall in Southern New Mexico.
The latest development is raising some eyebrows in nearby Santa Teresa, New Mexico site of one of the fastest-growing commercial border crossings along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Any time you have needed border infrastructure with Mexico, it’s a good thing. But right now, our focus is on modernizing the Santa Teresa port of entry, which is extremely successful. We are now the sixth-largest port of entry on the U.S.-Mexico border,” said Jerry Pacheco, president and CEO of the Border Industrial Association.
The federal government recently approved a feasibility study for an expansion of the Santa Teresa port, and private industry as well as some federal lawmakers are lobbying for a major expansion there, particularly of commercial operations.
“Speaking for myself, I’d say it has the potential to dilute what we are trying to do in Santa Teresa from a funding standpoint because Washington (D.C.) or Mexico City could say, ‘What do you want? Modernize Santa Teresa or a new port of entry in Sunland Park?’ Santa Teresa is a proven commodity, and we are reaching a point that we could bottleneck in terms of commercial traffic coming through,” Pacheco said.
The industry promoter said Santa Teresa benefits many Sunland Park residents who work at its industrial parks or get hired as contractors.
“We want to cooperate with our friends in Sunland Park and what we do here benefits the community. We go out of our way. When we get asked for suppliers, plumbers, landscapers, we try to pull them out of Sunland Park,” he said.
Perea said the two ports are not competing against each other. Santa Teresa is primarily a commercial border crossing while Sunland Park aims to draw passenger traffic from Juarez that must travel several miles west to get to Santa Teresa.
As for the funding, Perea emphasized that new ports of entry take years to reach the construction stage, while Santa Teresa’s need for government funding are much more immediate.
“It is actually complimentary. Our studies show that adding this port of entry will bring more traffic” to both ports, he said. “The state of New Mexico has invested millions of dollars in Santa Teresa and we want to protect that investment. We want to continue to see commercial traffic through Santa Teresa and the Pete Domenici Highway and see the continued growth in that area.”
Pacheco said another possible issue is federal manpower.
“I tell people that, even in Santa Teresa, we can put eight lanes on the commercial side but if we don’t have inspectors, what good is it? If you go to Columbus, they have four lanes but when I go there, I only see one open because (U.S. Customs and Border Protection) is undermanned. Almost every port on the U.S.-Mexico border is undermanned,” Pacheco said.
Border Report reached out to the White House and to New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for comment on the new port and is awaiting a response.
Lily Riley has called Sunland Park her home for the past 45 years. From day one she’s been hearing talk about construction of a border crossing that will bring jobs and prosperity to this southern New Mexico community across the state line from El Paso, Texas.
She hopes this time it’s for real.
“They’ve been saying for a long time they are going to make a border bridge from Sunland Park,” Riley said. “I think it would be more growth and (jobs) and money for Sunland Park. I think it’s a good idea.”
Ramiro Velasco, who has resided in Sunland Park for 30 years, said he, too, has heard promises of a border crossing for decades. “I won’t be able to walk across by the time” they build the crossing, the retiree joked.