City Exploring Legal Action Over International Bridge Wait Times

El Paso city officials have used the word “crisis” to describe the sometimes hours-long wait times at the local ports of entry.

During Tuesday’s city council meeting, District 2 City Rep. Susie Byrd mentioned the possibility of legal action on the part of the city against U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Byrd said it’s time for the city to get aggressive with the federal government and that litigation over the environmental effect of the wait times could be a start.

“(Customs and Border Protection’s) failure to keep those booths open is creating an environmental crisis in many ways with the air quality,” she said.

City Manager Joyce Wilson said that the city is exploring the idea of legal action.

“We are looking at that; we’re looking at the environmental issues,” Wilson said.

District 7 City Rep. Steve Ortega reminded council members that during a 2006 planning retreat, the city council decided it wanted to make El Paso’s ports of entry the premier border crossings along the Mexican border.

At Tuesday’s meeting, the first of 2012, Ortega said not a lot has been accomplished in that regard.

Courtney Niland, City Rep. for District 8, told ABC-7 that she isn’t completely sold on the idea of litigation as a way to ease bridge lines.

“I don’t think getting into an argument and starting a fight is the necessary, proper way to handle this,” Niland said.

Customs and Border Protection Spokesman Roger Maier said he couldn’t comment on any pending or possible legal action.

Maier did give ABC-7 a statement reiterating the work being done at the international bridges. The statement read, in part, “Every day, CBP officers are stopping drug smugglers, illegal immigrants, fugitives and other violators at the border ports.”

Ortega has been crossing into Mexico before every city council meeting to see how long it takes him to get back into the U.S.

ABC-7 cameras captured Ortega as he continued Tuesday, this time by foot. His trip over the downtown Paso Del Norte bridge took him just roughly six minutes as a pedestrian.

Most El Paso schools were not in session and many of the stores that line the streets near the crossing were closed following the New Year holiday.

During the meeting, city council voted unanimously to allow Mayor John Cook to reach out to the office of State Comptroller Susan Combs to ask for help studying any economic impact the bridge wait times may have on the El Paso and Texas economies.