Farm groups and ag lawmakers are growing increasingly frustrated by the closure of two rail crossings at the U.S-Mexico border and say they haven't received any word of when the situation will be resolved.
The rail closings at Eagle Pass and El Paso, Texas, are halting 1 million bushels of grain movement and costing the U.S. economy $200 million per day in lost sales, triggering a domino effect with the backlog of products to move where it is needed.
In an interview with Agri-Pulse, Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., called the situation — caused by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s decision to move border personnel from the rail crossings to process the influx of migrants — “truly an insult to American agriculture.”
Marshall explained CBP’s decision to move 20 to 30 Border Patrol train inspectors to manage the 12,000 person per day increase in migrants flooding the border is a “drop in the bucket” in the broader issue of border security, but the changes are nonetheless having a devastating impact on the overall U.S. economy and agriculture specifically.
A White House spokesperson told Agri-Pulse CBP took this temporary action to “protect the health and safety of its personnel.”
The spokesperson added they are “working closely with the Mexican government in [an] attempt to resolve this issue, and also surging personnel to the region.”
Mexico has been seen as a bright spot in lower overall ag exports worldwide, and Marshall anticipates could be the top destination for U.S. ag products in 2023. U.S. goods and services trade with Mexico totaled an estimated $855.1 billion in 2022, and nearly two-thirds of all U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico move via rail.
Eagle Pass and El Paso accounted for a total of $33.95 billion or 35.8% of all cross-border rail traffic to and from Mexico in the last year, according to a letter Marshall and six other Republican colleagues sent to Department of Homeland Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas demanding the reopening of the southern border immediately.
Marshall said he’s hearing from Kansas producers that it will take 30 to 60 days to unwind the problems this has already created. “Even if we put those inspectors back there today, it’s just a domino of problems downwind created by this.”
Already 60 trains have been sidelined, which creates backlogs in other areas, Marshall said.
National Grain and Feed Association Chief Economist Max Fisher pointed to major concerns on the amount of feed left for Mexico’s poultry sector, with some worried depopulation may occur if more feed grain doesn’t arrive soon.
In recent weeks, rail carriers already experienced fewer grain deliveries and reduced capacity as they dealt with migrants jumping on and off trains, Fisher said.
“Mexico was already deficit on the amount of grain and feed it had going into this weekend,” he noted.
NGFA and more than 40 other ag groups sent a letter to Mayorkas Wednesday requesting the “immediate opening” of the two crossings.
They say they are aware of grain trains sitting at origin in at least six states that are unable to move. “We expect this number to grow,” the letter says. “Our understanding is that it is possible for CBP to operate a rail crossing with as few as five employees, and we strongly urge you to allocate CBP staff to the international rail crossings to allow products to resume flowing.”
Marshall argued the closure could result in lost market access and reliability concerns for U.S. exports. “If Kansas wheat can’t get down there, even just for a few short days, Mexico will transition to the Black Sea,” Marshall said.
The National Association of Wheat Growers and U.S. Wheat Associates said Mexico is historically the top export market for U.S. wheat with average annual commercial sales of almost 132 million bushels. “A substantial volume of U.S. wheat is shipped by rail every year and it is estimated that at least 13 million bushels of wheat, valued at more than $114 million, per year moves through the rail corridors at the El Paso and Eagle Pass crossings that are now closed,” NAWG said in a release.
Many of these sales are now at risk due to the disruptions, “as well as the positive trading relationship our industry has built over decades as a reliable supplier of high-quality U.S. wheat to Mexican flour millers and their commercial bakery customers.”
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Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition, said in an email update that the vast majority of soy products shipments to Mexico occur via rail. According to USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, $3.64 billion of U.S. soybeans were exported to Mexico in 2022 along with $863 million worth of soybean meal and $117 million of U.S. soybean oil.
“We understand the severity of the migrant crisis and how solutions continue to be explored, but surely erecting barriers between U.S. farmers and their Mexican customers is not an elixir to the problem,” Steenhoek said.
Marshall said the rail companies are “very motivated” for rail service to resume and take “great lengths to make sure that nobody is hitching on their trains.”
The White House spokesperson said the administration is “communicating regularly with industry leaders to ensure we are assessing and mitigating the impacts of these temporary closures.” However, Marshall said the White House hasn’t returned his request to discuss the situation.
Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, participated in a staff-level briefing with CBP and DHS officials on Wednesday. “CBP and DHS officials acknowledged the consequences of the railway pause and provided an operational update on the record-high level of migrant encounters at the southern border which have caused this drastic trade disruption,” a Grassley spokesperson said.
Fisher said CBP has not given industry groups any ideas on the options the agency is considering to resume rail crossings. When CBP closed Eagle Pass in late September for three days it was “definitely bad,” Fisher said, but at least some of those rail cars could be diverted through Eagle Pass to go through El Paso.
“But having both of these rail crossings in Texas closed is much worse,” he said.
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