Mexico Trucker Online

 

International truck freight will cross the border in Laredo more efficiently starting Jan. 5 when the World Trade Bridge expands operations to 24 hours a day, five days a week in a six-month U.S.-Mexico pilot test program.

The main beneficiaries will be grocery stores in Texas and Mexico because of more timely deliveries of perishable goods, and factories that operate around the clock and need just-in-time deliveries.

“The benefit will be seen all up and down the supply chain,” said Roger Creery, Laredo Development Foundation executive director.

A formal announcement of the bridge’s expanded hours will be made today at a news conference planned by the city of Laredo Bridge Department at the commercial truck-only bridge. The bridge opened in 2000 at a cost of about $100 million.

The World Trade Bridge now crosses about 4,500 trucks per day northbound and about 4,000 southbound. The bridge, manned by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency and Mexico’s customs service, already handles the most cargo of any U.S.-Mexico crossing.

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A US District Judge today resentenced Former Border Patrol Agent Jose Alonso Compean to 10 years for his conviction of using a weapon in the commission of a felony, plus two years for assault and other charges.

Compean and former agent Ignacio Ramos were convicted in 2006 of shooting admitted drug smuggler Osvaldo Aldrete Davila and trying to cover it up.

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out some convictions against Ramos and Compean earlier this year, prompting Wednesday’s resentencing, but the court upheld the majority of the case. Ramos is due to be resentenced Thursday.

Compean’s lawyers said Wednesday they are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. One of his attorneys, Bob Baskett, didn’t immediately respond to calls seeking details on the review Wednesday.

Supporters, including members of Congress, have asked President Bush to pardon the men or at least commute their sentences.

Starr County commissioners this morning, accepted the resignation submitted by Starr County Texas Sheriff Reymundo Guerra over the weekend

County Judge Eloy Vera said said the sheriff’s office would for now be under the command of Chief Deputy Rene Fuentes, who is next in the chain of command.

Since Guerra was running unopposed in the Nov. 4 election, he effectively starts a new term as sheriff in January, Vera said. It is not yet known whether he plans to withdraw his candidacy.

“At that time the topic will come up again,” Vera said.

U.S. Magistrate Dorina Ramos had expressed concerns during a detention hearing last week that Guerra might return to his post as sheriff while free on bond.

Reymundo Guerra’s resignation as Starr County sheriff didn’t convince Judge Ramos to set bail for the former lawman,

Defense attorney Philip Hilder said Guerra would appeal today’s denial of bond. Unless overturned by a district court, Ramos’ decision means Guerra will remain behind bars pending trial in early December.

A U.S. Customs and Border Protection inspector at the Eagle Pass Port of Entry has been indicted in San Antonio for trying to smuggle marijuana and cocaine through a Border Patrol checkpoint north of Del Rio.

Alex Moses Jr., 28, was indicted Wednesday on one count of possession of marijuana with intent to distribute it and with one count of importation of cocaine.

According to a probable cause affidavit on file in the U.S. District Clerk’s Office here, Moses was arrested at the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoint on U.S. Highway 277 about 30 miles north of Del Rio on Sunday, Sept. 28.

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Border Patrol recruits “Bubba’s” in South Carolina, Georgia

The U.S. Border Patrol brings its hiring blitz South this weekend.

The agency recruits in four locations on Saturday in South Carolina and Georgia.

Two years ago, President Bush said he wanted to hire 6,000 more Border Patrol agents by the end of 2008. The agency needs to hire more than 800 by Dec. 31 to meet the goal.

The agency is responsible for patrolling 7,000 miles of border. Starting pay ranges from $36,000 to $46,000 a year.

In South Carolina, recruiting is set in North Charleston at the Embassy Suites at the Convention Center and at the Embassy Suites in Columbia on Stoneridge Drive.

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Mexico’s government plans to search 10 percent of all vehicles entering the country from the United States in an effort to curb arms smuggling, the attorney general said Tuesday.

Most illegal weapons in Mexico come from the United States, according to officials in both countries.

Many end up in the hands of powerful drug cartels who supply most of the cocaine entering the United States from South America.

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