MEXICO CITY — A leading Mexican business group said Wednesday that the U.S. decision to temporarily close two rail border crossings into Texas is costing $100 million a day in delayed shipments.
The Mexican employers' association called on the US to end the closure of the railroad crossings to Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, which began Monday.
The business group called the closures a sign 'of the failure of migration policy'. The number of illegal border crossings at the southwestern US border exceeded 10,000 on a few days in December, an abnormally high level.
“We energetically but respectfully call on the governments of Mexico and the United States to address the migration crisis affecting the flow of goods, as this measure will only harm the economies of both countries,” the association wrote in a statement.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection said Sunday that the decision was made “to redirect personnel to assist the U.S. Border Patrol in taking migrants into custody.”
US officials said this was in response to migrants riding freight trains through Mexico and disembarking just before entering the US
The border crossing in Lukeville, Arizona, has been closed, as has a pedestrian entrance in San Diego, California, so that more officials can be assigned to the influx of migrants.
Mexico receives much of the corn and soy products it needs to feed livestock by rail from the United States. Auto parts and cars are also often transported by rail in Mexico.