December 18, 2023

The following statement can be attributed to Rachel Michelin, President and CEO of the California Retailers Association.

“The California Retailers Association joins Union Pacific Railroad in urging the Eagle Pass and El Paso border crossings be reopened immediately.

These locations represent 45% of cross border Union Pacific Railroad business and include goods critical to the U.S. economy, and California consumers, and there is not enough capacity at other gateways to reroute them. 

With Christmas and the New Year’s holidays just days away, the California Retailers Association is collaborating with Union Pacific Railroad in communicating to multiple government agencies, urging that the crossings closed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection be reopened. 

Every day the border is closed, Union Pacific Railroad is forced to embargo customers’ goods on more than 60 trains, or nearly 4,500 rail cars. The California Retailers Association is confident Union Pacific Railroad is doing everything possible to stage trains and work with customers to prevent congestion at the border, but the longer this closure is in effect, the more difficult it will be for cross-border trade to resume.”

Access the Union Pacific Railroad Fact Sheet – Union Pacific Urges Border Crossings Be Reopened & Cross-Border Commerce Restored- HERE.

Read the coalition letter Cal Retailers sent to President Joe Biden and Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas urging the reopening of the El Paso and Eagle Pass Land Ports HERE.