Submission

Summary of the matter addressed in the submission:

The Submitters assert that the United States is failing to effectively enforce its environmental law by failing to analyze the environmental impacts of its decision to permanently close all commercial cargo operations at the Cordova–Americas International Bridge (BOTA) at the US-Mexico border in the city of Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico and city of El Paso, Texas, United States.

The submission asserts that this decision, formalized in a Record of Decision and analyzed in an Environmental Impact Statement, will disproportionately increase cargo traffic and air pollution in the area south of the Zaragoza–Ysleta crossing, home to thousands of Mexican residents in the city of Juárez. The Submitters argue that by failing to evaluate impacts on air quality on the Mexican side of the border, the US violated its obligations under the 1983 La Paz Agreement, which requires both countries to assess significant environmental impacts in the border zone (100 km on each side) and consider mitigation measures.

On 2 January 2026, the Secretariat received another submission, SEM-26-001 (Bridge of the Americas-BOTA II), related to the same facts and the same asserted failure to enforce an environmental law as in SEM-25-002 (Bridge of the Americas-BOTA). The Secretariat consolidated both submissions.

Names and citations of the environmental laws in question:

1983 La Paz Agreement

Submitter(s):

Asociación Nacional de Importadores y Exportadores de la República Mexicana, Delegación Chihuahua, y Marcelo Vázquez Tovar