NM Supports Binational Efforts to Improve Santa Teresa Crossing
NEW MEXICO – New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the state’s support for the U.S. and Mexican federal government’s efforts to prioritize improvements at the Santa Teresa – San Jeronimo Port of Entry to expedite international trade and create jobs.
“The State of New Mexico is honored to have a mutually respectful and shared partnership with Mexico’s federal and state leaders. We are working together to improve border trade and invest in this region in order to create jobs and benefit every family that depends on the goods and services that pass through the border area,” said Lujan Grisham.
The announcement comes after Cabinet Secretary for Economic Development Alicia J. Keyes returned from meetings in Mexico City with Mexican federal officials and representatives from Chihuahua, and after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar announced that Santa Teresa-San Jeronimo will be a strategic border project for both countries.
Keyes was accompanied by Joseph De La Rosa of the Department of Transportation and Marco Grajeda, executive director of the New Mexico Border Authority. The three also participated in the first binational infrastructure working group convened by Ambassador Salazar.
“Families and businesses along the border will rise and fall together, no matter which side they are on. We all have to pull in the same direction to build a sustainable and dignified border that provides economic security for all who live, work and depend on the goods and services of these border communities,” Keyes said.
Mexico’s Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, announced Mexico’s commitment to improving border infrastructure during a forum held in Tijuana, Baja California, along with U.S. Ambassador Salazar.
According to a Mexican government communiqué issued on May 12, Foreign Affairs Secretary Ebrard said that integration between Mexico and the United States is underway “thanks to productive processes and high-level dialogues to streamline our supply chains and production capacity in the pharmaceutical, medical, electromobility and other sectors”.
Mexico has pledged $700 million for projects, including the modernization of the San Jeronimo-Santa Teresa crossing and its access roads.
Governor Lujan Grisham has identified global trade as one of nine target industries that will receive additional state investment as New Mexico works to diversify its economy.
The governor has already allocated funds to boost infrastructure needs along the border, with $50 million earmarked for a Border Highway Connector to boost workforce accessibility, $8 million in water infrastructure and $20 million for the Doña Ana Jetport. This is in addition to his administration’s federal request for a $170 million expansion at Santa Teresa and a Congressional request for a Presidential Permit for a rail bypass.
The Santa Teresa Port of Entry is a primary crossing between the United States and Mexico, and the first land port without a bridge structure from the east. As such, it serves a critical function for the industrial region of El Paso and Ciudad Juarez, as it is the only large, overweight port not limited by space or weight.
Over the past two years, the port has doubled the number of commercial vehicles processed per hour and reached a new record in 2021 by recording more than 150,000 trucks. The port also includes the largest cattle crossing on the southern border, accounting for 500,000 head per year.
Source: MEXICONOW Staff