Commercial traffic at Ports of Entry stuck again due to inspections by Texas DPS

JUAREZ, Chihuahua (KVIA) -- Commercial trucks crossing to the U.S. are once again being affected by secondary inspections conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Inspections started to be conducted over the weekend at the Ysleta-Zaragoza bridge according to the Mexico's National Chamber of Cargo Transportation.

Trucks carrying merchandise and goods saw an increase in wait times and some of them got stuck on the Mexican side of the border.

According to Manuel Sotelo, the Chamber's President in Northern Mexico, around 450 trucks got stuck on Saturday when Texas DPS inspections started.

Inspections also started today at the Bridge of the Americas, which left several truck drivers stuck at the bridge on the Mexican side of the border.

"We don't know if Gudalupe-Tornillo is also going to be affected by the DPS inspections at this point, because it is also in Texas."

ABC-7 spoke with some drivers who said that by 5 p.m. this evening, they had already spent over 10 hours waiting there. Depending on their trucks' cargo, some of them had fewer wait times.

Sotelo said this is the fourth time in the last four years this has happened to commerce in our area.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection sent a statement to ABC-7 saying they will temporarily expand cargo processing hours at the Santa Teresa and Marcelino Serna (Tornillo) ports of entry, effective immediately. CBP will continue to monitor the situation and will communicate any adjustments immediately with area stakeholders.

The statement also says:

"The adjustments were announced after the Texas Department of Public Safety initiated enhanced safety inspection at their facilities adjacent to the CBP cargo facilities at the Bridge of the Americas and Ysleta ports of entry. The TX DPS inspections are not allowing cargo trucks to exit the CBP facilities in a timely manner and creating delays beyond the control of CBP."

Commercial crossings saw these temporary inspections by Texas DPS in September and October of last year during the migrant surge.

ABC-7 reached out to Texas DPS to learn more details on these inspections being reinstated and is awaiting a response at this time.