Trouble in border town

That's what we hear in this report from The Tucson Citizen. A spontaneous demonstration and Mexican trucker strike occurred at the Mariposa port of entry in Nogales on Wednesday and Thursday in response to border wait times of four to six hours. Normal wait times are one to two hours, truckers said. The culprit?
From the story:

Since Jan. 25, trucks entering the United States through Arizona, Washington and North Dakota must have electronic manifests as a part of a program called the Automated Commercial Environment, which U.S. Customs and Border Protection developed to strengthen national security and facilitate trade.
"Unfortunately, the system still has kinks," said Allison Moore of the Fresh Produce Association of the Americas, which is based in Nogales, "and the industry has become the guinea pig to work out those kinks."


TK: Hopefully the kinks get worked out before the CBP program is applied to all ports. The Fresh Produce Association of the Americas helped to mediate an end to the strike, and they should be commended for that. CBP has promised to meet with Representatives of Mexican trucking interests to prevent incidents in the future. Sources quoted in the story noted the port needs to be upgraded to handle more volume, which now can be up to 2,000 truckloads of produce per day during peak season Drug seizures are also up, the CBP says, which has slowed trade somewhat.