Migration crisis on the Mexican border stops the first industrial plants

The migration crisis suffering Mexico has already caused the first factories to stop their production in the north of the country, while more than 320 maquiladoras are already analyzing stopping operations in a border strip where maquiladora activity represents half of the jobs.

The idled plants, which employ about 5,000 workers, have not been able to send their production from Juárez to the United States, and their goods are only part of an overall $1 billion in stranded exports.

“Due to the waiting times on the international bridges in Ciudad Juárez, we have had a significant reduction in the volume of units that we can export daily. “This is why we have made the decision to suspend production in our three plants for two days to allow our exports to stabilize and relieve the capacity of our warehouses.”said the BRP communications department.

The manufacturer of ATVs and all-terrain vehicles “side by side”known as “racers”has three plants in Juárez from where it exports merchandise to the entire United States, Canada and some parts of Europe.

It is the first company to announce technical stoppages resulting from the impossibility of sending loads, but, in the opinion of Thor Salayandía Lara, National Vice President of Maquiladora and Border Strips of the National Chamber of the Processing Industry, it is the first of many others that will “technical stoppages” in the following days.

“This thing about BRP is not strange, surely there are many more of the 320 maquiladoras in the city making their estimates to stop their production”he sentenced.

The business leader revealed that there are even companies that are negotiating salaries at fifty% with their workers if they stop production.

“You cannot be producing and producing if you cannot export because we have nowhere to put the production. If this is not resolved, at one point we will all have to stop.”said Salayandía.

He said that this is a very serious situation, because in Juárez more than 60% of employment is maquiladora, while in all the cities of the border strip the 52% of the jobs are in the industrial sector.

“We cannot have the border closed and the maquilas working half-heartedly, this must have a quick solution”he added.

Manuel Sotelo, president of the Freight Motor Transport Association in Juárez, agreed with this, saying that this is a political issue in which migrants are re-victimized.

“It is not the migrants’ fault, the governments’ fault; some for politicizing the issue and the others for not offering solutions.”he expressed.

He also considered that another relevant factor, in addition to customs, is “the orders of the governor of Texas, Gregg Abbot, to review every trailer that leaves Juárez customs towards Texas”indicated the representative of the transporters in Juárez.

He added that, in one week, around 7,500 loads were accumulated without being able to export in Ciudad Juárez, each with an estimated average value of US$135,000, equivalent to more than US$1,000 million stranded on the border.

Sotelo asked for a solution through diplomatic channels, as well as for Texas to withdraw its unnecessary reviews.

In addition, Salayandía insisted that political issues must be separated and stop re-victimizing migrants, affecting companies that are not actually Mexican, but from the United States.

He said that the stuck exports join the fears that the strike of the Big Three in the United States will begin to affect the production of the maquiladoras in Juárez, creating a vicious circle that would cause, from unemployment to violence, as already happened in 2008 when a quarter of the jobs were lost.