EL PASO, Texas ( Frontier Report )– The leaders of Juarez, Mexico, and Sunland Park, New Mexico, on Wednesday renewed their commitment to a new frontier crossing north of El Paso.
Cruz Perez Cuellar and Javier Perea met at Juarez City Hall to mark a memorandum of understanding to encourage the development of the border crossing with their particular governments and secure financing. On the New Mexico area of the Camino Real Tierra Adentro cross and on Calle Tonina, in the Anapra town of Juarez, may be located just north of the foothills of Mount Cristo Rey on the New Mexico area.
Perez Cuellar and Perea first met last summer and shared the news that the Mexican federal government had approved the project. But under Mexican law, that’s a lengthy process requiring individual approval of federal highway, environmental and customs agencies. Additionally, the crossing requires a presidential permit on the U.S. side, which Sunland Park has not yet received.
Perea has stated that the crossing would primarily handle pedestrian and passenger traffic, so it would n’t compete with the expanding Santa Teresa, New Mexico port of entry just a few miles to the west. With a population of 17, 000, it would also act as a catalyst for economic growth for Sunland Park and West Juarez.
Some business owners in New Mexico expressed concern that the two border crossings would compete for Customs and Border Protection personnel and federal funding.
Due to a now years-long migrant crisis that forces CBP to deploy its officers to assist in migrant processing, the Santa Teresa port of entry needs to be expanded because the truck traffic has increased exponentially in recent years. CBP has struggled to keep all inspection lanes open at border crossings in the El Paso Sector.
Residents of Sunland Park have been fighting for a border crossing to Juarez since at least the 1970s.
