SAN DIEGO — Border crossing wait times have grown significantly longer since officials temporarily closed Ped West near San Ysidro. The closure is severely impacting travelers and businesses in both San Diego and Mexico.
Travelers are spending several hours longer than normal to cross into Mexico. With the holidays around the corner, businesses say they depend on customers now more than ever.
“The San Ysidro border, Tijuana area was once buzzing but it’s not buzzing anymore," said business owner, Rahil Iqbal.
What’s supposed to be the busiest time of the year is turning out to be the complete opposite for businesses along the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Ever since they closed the Ped West on Saturday, traffic went down, it took a nose dive. Our sales took a nose dive. They go down probably 40-50% from last weekend. So, it’s been a tough week," said Iqbal.
Less than a month after reopening, CBP officials closed down Ped West yet again – this time, the agency says it’s redirecting staff to deal with migrant processing.
Iqeal, owns Bargain Bazaar located on San Ysidro Boulevard and said the closure couldn’t have come at a worse time for businesses.
“We have so many items but we don’t have customers. No one wants to wait 4-5 hours it’s just ridiculous," he added.
Kenia Zamarripa, Executive Director of International Affairs at the San Diego Regional Chamber of Commerce, says border communities lose about $2 billion every year because of long wait times.
Around 200 businesses closed in San Ysidro during the pandemic because of travel restrictions.
Zamarripa worries the latest closure could severely impact those already struggling to get back on their feet after the pandemic.
“To do this just in the height of the holidays, you know, when San Ysidro is looking at the bigger time of the year – this is millions of dollars every single weekend. That’s an economic loss that goes straight to those families and their employees," said Zamarripa.
“They were trying to see the light at the end of the tunnel and all of the sudden they have all these new challenges," said Executive Dof the Smart Border Coalition, Joaquin Luken.
Luken says infrastructure improvements on the Mexican side and the high number of San Diegans living in Mexico because of the high cost of living are also contributing to longer wait times.
Luken says Fridays have traditionally been the worst days to travel, but lately, there’s no distinction on which day of the week is worse.
“The last time we experienced something similar it was a partial closure of the entire port at San Ysidro for 8 hours on black Friday 2018 and it’s estimated that that business community lost $5 million and this was less than a day. So imagine now that we’re going into the holiday season," added Zamarripa.
In a statement to CBS 8, CBP says “to mitigate wait times at the POE (Pedestrian East and Otay Mesa crossings), CBP is reposition its existing resources and opening as many lanes as possible to accommodate the increases.”
Businesses tell me they hope officials can reopen Ped West soon in a last ditch effort to save their business.
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