Deming, Sep 28, 2004 - Chile imports from Mexico resumed through the Columbus Port of Entry, Friday, after a day’s halt.
“Everything’s good,” Port Director Norman Bebon said Friday morning.
Chile imports, excepting sealed containers, were halted Thursday due to a Mediterranean Fruit Fly problem, in Baja, Calif.
New Mexico’s Congressional delegation reported the U.S. Department of Agriculture acted quickly Thursday to avert serious economic impact to New Mexico chile processors, employers of more than 2,000 workers in plants in the on-going processing season.
Border Foods’ spokesman Scott Chandler reported the company’s Jalapeño processing was idled Thursday.
He credited U.S. Senators Pete Domenici (R-NM) and Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), Congressman Steve Pearce (R-NM) as well as State Sen John Arthur Smith (D-Luna County) with acting expeditiously to remove the ban. New Mexico’s Congressional delegation reported speaking with USDA Secretary Ann Veneman, explaining the halt’s impact. The USDA determined possession of a phyto-sanitary certificate, which most truck drivers have, would satisfy requirements, as it would prove if a truck came from an uninfected area.
The USDA was to continue monitoring processing plants to assure absence of fruit flies in shipments.
The New Mexico Department of Agriculture offered to set traps to monitor areas around processing plants, said NMDA Secretary Miley Gonzales, credited with negotiating the agreement with the USDA leading to reopening the border.
More than 40 trucks were stopped at the Columbus port, the line stretching two to three miles into Mexico.
Columbus Police Chief Clare May said Mexican officials had the situation in hand.
“There was going to be a protest in Mexico with the farmers,” May said of concern over long-term shipment blockade. “It was quite, peaceful, calm. Mexican officials handled it very well ... a peaceful demonstration.”
May said he was called by Port officials and notified the New Mexico State Policer and the Luna County Sheriff’s Department. No assistance was needed at the Port.
“Customs officials and Mexican police,” he said, “did an outstanding job mediating the problem.”
Meanwhile, telephone lines were busy.
“All of our loads were held up, nearly all day,” Chandler said of Thursday’s delay. “We got the Congressional delegation on it, they started calling the secretary (Veneman), trying to get to the bottom of it. We were in contact all day. The whole delegation was really good, Senator Domenici, Senator Bingaman, Congressman Pearce, (State Sen.) John Arthur Pearce. Domenici’s office was really great on contact, calling back and forth all day.
“I got a call late in the evening that Domenici had spoken with the secretary and felt like there was some resolution coming. (Friday) morning, I got a call from Pearce’s office , they told me the USDA had lifted the ban on open containers.”
Approximately 90 percent of Border Foods’ Jalapeño crop comes from Mexico, Chandler said.
“There are not many Jalapeño growers in the U.S.,” he said. “It could have been a real catastrophe.”
While 40 trucks were stopped at Columbus and beyond, another 250 shipments were expected within the next day or two. Import restrictions were initially in place from San Diego and Tijuana to El Paso and Juarez.

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