El Paso County meeting with Mexican officials over future plans on Ports of Entry

JUAREZ, Chihuahua (KVIA) -- Several El Paso County Commissioners have been having meetings with Mexican officials and stakeholders on plans for future modernization at the Bridge of the Americas and to increase commercial traffic at the Marcelino Serna POE in Tornillo, Texas.

ABC-7 spoke with County Commissioner David Stout who said, that in March, he along with Commissioner Coronado had been traveling to South Mexico to speak with maquiladoras about the plans to use Tornillo more often.

The U.S. federal government has requested the county to have an increase the volume of commercial crossings in that Port of Entry to keep U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers processing crossings there.

ABC-7 has previously reported that Mexican business leaders on the border have been in talks to have their cargo shipped to the U.S. through that Port of Entry.

With the planned modernizations at BOTA and the Santa Teresa port of entry, the El Paso sector will only have the Ysleta and Tornillo ports of entry as options to cross cargo to both sides of the border.

For government officials, this could create a bottleneck for commercial traffic.

Local activists have pronounced that the city and county should take away commercial traffic at BOTA due to pollution concerns.

That's why the county sees Tornillo as a good option to have along Ysleta for imports and exports traveling to East Texas.