There are 50 places where people can cross the Mexico–United States border. Several large border cities have multiple crossings, often including one or more that bypass the center of the city and are designated for truck traffic. For planned crossings, see the Proposed crossings section below. For former border crossings, see the Closed crossings section below. Details on each of the US ports of entry are provided using the links in the table.
Crossing re-opened in April, 2013. Transit of the Rio Grande can be accomplished by foot, burro or rowboat. Motor vehicles are not permitted. Border crossing is staffed by NPS rangers. People entering the US must report for inspection using video kiosks. There are also border services on the Mexico side.[2]
For many years, all trucks entering the U.S. from Tijuana were inspected at this border crossing just west of the Interstate 5 crossing. It closed in 1984 when the Otay Mesa Port of Entry was completed, and where all truck traffic from Tijuana is now inspected.
This crossing, also known also as "the Gate" has never been a legal border crossing for most people. Nomadic Native Americans are permitted use this gate to traverse their land on both sides of the border.
Located just 2.4 miles west of the New Mexico-Texas-Mexico tripoint, this crossing was constructed in 1971 with funds from the New Mexico and Juárez governments, with the vision of creating economic development by luring traffic from the busy El Paso crossings. However, with pressure by politicians from Texas who stood to lose liquor tax revenue, the US government refused to staff it. It is unclear if the port ever officially opened. The Mexican federal inspection canopy still stands today.
When the waters of an 1897 Rio Grande flood receded, the river was found to have changed course, resulting in 386 acres of Mexican territory called "Córdova Island" situated north of the river. Boundary markers and a fence were eventually deployed. In 1959, a border crossing opened on the East side of the island. In 1963, Presidents Kennedy and Ordaz signed a treaty that settled the Chamizal dispute which redistributed land in the area between the US and Mexico. The location where the Córdova crossing was situated (which used to be the only Texas-Mexico border crossing not at the Rio Grande) now lies on Mexican land, on the campus of the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez. The crossing closed in 1967 when the new Bridge of the Americas crossing opened, where the new Rio Grande channel and new boundary was established.[4]
Fabens was a small border crossing ten miles east of El Paso, Texas. It opened in 1938, and closed on November 17, 2014, when the new Tornillo Port of Entry opened nearby. The Fabens-Caseta International Bridge was too small to handle commercial traffic, and local business interests pressed for an alternate route from the busy commercial crossings in El Paso.
The La Linda International Bridge crossing opened in 1964, primarily to serve the Dow Chemical facility on the Mexican side. It was closed to legal traffic in 1989, but was prone to smuggling. The bridge was barricaded in 1997, and it remains in this condition today. Mexico had a border inspection station at this crossing, but the US did not.
A motor boat served as a passenger ferry during the 1950s and 1960s. The US Customs Service operated a border inspection station during those years.[5]
Suspension toll bridge was opened in 1931. In 1954, Falcon Dam was completed, and the rising waters left the old town of Zapata, along with the US Customs station and the bridge itself at the bottom of the Falcon International Reservoir. A new town center was constructed on higher ground outside town.[6]
The Thayer Bridge (also called the Río Rico Bridge) was built in 1928 and opened up the Mexican border town of Río Rico as a tourist destination during prohibition with bars and even a casino.[7] The crossing was located about two miles (3.2 km) downstream from where the Progreso bridge would later be built. The bridge was destroyed by a flood in 1941. After its destruction, temporary access was provided by ferry and pontoon bridge, but all service had ended by 1946. In 1967, it was discovered that Rio Rico had actually been located on US soil all along, and in 1970, the land was officially ceded to Mexico. Approximately 1000 people who provided evidence they were born in Río Rico over the years were given US citizenship.[8]
Rail crossings
Rail tracks on Boulevard Adolfo López Mateos in Mexicali leading north to the border crossing at Calexico
The railroad line runs through Tunnel 4 across the border and the former Tunnel 3 to the south.[10] Rail service over the border including Pacific Southwest Railway Museum's Ticket to Tecate passenger train was suspended in 2009 due to a fire in Tunnel 3. This section of the line is undergoing reconstruction, which includes the daylighting of Tunnel 3 and rebuilding Tunnel 4's west portal.[11] This crossing lies along the San Diego and Arizona Eastern Railway's Desert Line.
Southern Pacific owned Inter-California Railroad ran thru until the late 1950s when the line between Algodones Mexico and Araz Jct. connecting to the "Sunset Route" was shut down.
The Ferrocarril Naco-Cananea was built around 1900 as a mining railroad. The rail line used to lie between South Pratt Avenue and South Friend Drive in Arizona.
Rail tracks lie just to the west of Avenida Ferrocarril (Railway Avenue) in Agua Prieta and to the west of Pan American Avenue (US 191) in Douglas. The line was used by the Phelps Dodge Corporation for mineral transport. Jesús García died along this line in 1907.
