Trump has not closed U.S.-Mexico ports of entry, but commerce is still snarled up by the border chaos

Trucks waiting to cross into the U.S. from Mexico

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/AP)

published 10 April 2019

Trucks carrying fresh produce, furniture, electronics, raw materials, and other goods from Mexico to the U.S. are now waiting in line for hours or even days after the Trump administration reassigned hundreds of U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspectors to help manage the large number of migrant families seeking asylum in the U.S., The Associated Press reports. Businesses on both sides of the border are taking a hit.

"Truckers have been sleeping in their vehicles to hold spots in line in Ciudad Juarez, across the border from El Paso, Texas," AP says, a port of entry President Trump was reportedly only just talked out of closing entirely. One of the bridges to El Paso has been closed to truckers, two of 10 lanes at San Diego's only truck crossing are shut, and the crossings at Nogales, Arizona, and Santa Teresa, New Mexico, have also been ensnarled, AP reports. "Business leaders are starting to lose patience as they struggle to get products to American grocery stores, manufacturers, and construction sites."

U.S. Border Patrol said Tuesday that a record 53,000 family members were stopped at the border in March, most of them Central American parents and children turning themselves in and requesting asylum.