{"id":264741,"date":"2026-04-24T19:01:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/264741\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T19:01:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:01:08","slug":"why-south-texas-border-crossings-have-been-so-long","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/264741\/","title":{"rendered":"Why South Texas border crossings have been so long"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u201cheightened inspection cadence\u201d is snarling traffic for hours at some of the busiest international bridges<\/a> connecting Texas and Mexico and that has at least one local official asking for answers.<\/p>\n

This week, crossing times at ports of entry in\u00a0Brownsville<\/a> have been as long as five hours or more, according to posts on social media. The hours-long delays have caught the attention of Cameron County Judge Eddie Trevi\u00f1o Jr., who late Thursday issued a statement<\/a> asking U.S. Customs and Border Protection to \u201cwork with local partners\u201d and \u201crespect the economic vitality\u201d of the region.<\/p>\n

Trevi\u00f1o attributed the increased wait times to CBP increasing inspections of travelers coming into the country and added that continued delays pose a direct threat to the Rio Grande Valley\u2019s economy.<\/p>\n

\u201cCounty officials are concerned that the heightened inspection cadence, which has led to increased and prolonged wait times, will result in supply chain disruptions to cities within Cameron County, pose a serious risk for broader regional economic disruption and create unwarranted delays for families and visitors crossing to and from Texas to\u00a0Tamaulipas, Mexico,\u201d Trevi\u00f1o said.<\/p>\n

MySA reached out to CBP to confirm whether the agency is conducting increased inspections at South Texas ports of entry. The agency declined to answer but did say that, “All traffic applying for entry to the U.S. is subject to inspection and CBP is utilizing all available technology to the fullest.”<\/p>\n

Lane closures have also been contributing to the delays. The Brownsville and Matamoros International Bridge<\/a> \u2014 often referred to as the \u201cOld Bridge\u201d \u2014 has four northbound inspection lanes, while the Brownsville Gateway International Bridge has five. However, only one lane at each bridge<\/a> is currently open, and both bridges\u2019 Ready Lanes are closed, according to CBP\u2019s bridge crossings website.<\/p>\n

The worst of the border crossing delays are happening in\u00a0Brownsville, with wait times sometimes exceeding five hours at the Old Bridge. But other Valley bridges are also seeing longer crossing times. The McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge in neighboring Hidalgo County was reporting more than an hour’s wait as of Friday morning when typical crossing times are around 45 minutes.<\/p>\n

On Facebook, a local gossip page called\u00a0Nomorecheezmeh<\/a> characterized the extraordinarily long bridge crossing times in Brownsville as \u201cgetting out of control.\u201d The bridges are a crucial lifeline for people who live on one side of the border but go to work or school on the other. But now the delays are interfering with their daily routines.<\/p>\n

\u201cI literally went on Saturday. I did 3 1\/2 hours didn\u2019t get home till almost 4 o\u2019clock in the morning. It\u2019s freaking ridiculous,\u201d one person commented on\u00a0Nomorecheemeh\u2019s post.<\/p>\n

Another person said they usually wait until 10 a.m. to cross, since by that time school children have already made the crossing and the traffic has lightened. But this week, that 10 a.m. attempt took three hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow I\u2019ll have to go at 5 in the morning,\u201d the\u00a0commenter wrote in Spanish.<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s top leader sympathizes \u2014 both with local residents and with CBP\u2019s mission to ensure a safe border.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe respect and appreciate everything\u00a0CBP does to ensure Cameron County and our nation are protected. At the same time, we must also be mindful of our constituents and visitors\u2026 as well as respect the economic vitality of Cameron County<\/a>, the Rio Grande Valley and the state of Texas,\u201d Trevi\u00f1o said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A \u201cheightened inspection cadence\u201d is snarling traffic for hours at some of the busiest international bridges connecting Texas…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[2320,820,59494,27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-264741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-mysasotx","9":"tag-mysastaff","10":"tag-mysatranspo","11":"tag-texas","12":"tag-texas-headlines","13":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}