Iowa's congressional delegation slams Biden for closing key Texas-Mexico rail crossings

Iowa’s all-Republican congressional delegation and governor are slamming the Biden administration for temporarily suspending key freight train crossings between Texas and Mexico due to surging numbers of undocumented immigrants riding the rails.

“The importance of rail for transporting Iowa’s grain and agricultural products across the country cannot be overstated,” Iowa’s six-member delegation wrote Wednesday to President Joe Biden and Alejandro Mayorkas, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Secretary, saying the move is hurting Iowa and U.S. farmers.

“One of every three planted acres in the U.S. is exported. Our agricultural exports support roughly one million U.S. jobs and 31% of our American farm income,” said the joint message from U.S. Sens. Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst and U.S. Reps. Randy Feenstra, Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn.

Gov. Kim Reynolds, also a Republican, joined the criticism, saying in a statement that Biden “is punishing Iowa farmers and American consumers by ignoring their constitutional duty to address the invasion of our country at the Southern border.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection temporarily suspend freight train railway crossings beginning Monday at border bridges in El Paso and Eagle Pass, Texas, while it moved staff to process a growing number of migrants crossing the border.

A White House spokesman said Wednesday evening that Homeland Security took the "action in order to stop a large movement of migrants coming by rail and to protect the health and safety of its personnel."

"We are working closely with the Mexican government in attempt to resolve this issue, and also surging personnel to the region," the spokesman said. "We are communicating regularly with industry leaders to ensure we are assessing and mitigating the impacts of these temporary closures.”

The customs agency said the recent immigrant surge is being "fueled by smugglers peddling disinformation to prey on vulnerable individuals." Migrants without authorization to travel through Mexico climb aboard and ride atop freight trains in extremely risky travel to Mexican cities on the U.S. border, such as Juárez across from El Paso.

Closure has rail system backed up to Canada, ag groups say

Mexico is the U.S.’s second-largest market for soybeans, corn and pork, and fifth-largest for ethanol, based on U.S. Department of Agriculture export data for 2022. Iowa leads the nation in corn, pork and ethanol production and ranks second for soybeans.

“This shortsighted decision punishes Americans and American small businesses — particularly farmers in Iowa — for your administration’s failure to secure the border,” the Iowa legislators wrote, adding that 6.4 million people have illegally crossed the border during Biden's time in office.

Reynolds joined the criticism Wednesday, saying that “not only is the Biden administration’s failure to act harming our national security, but now it's directly harming our nation’s economy as well. These railways must be reopened to allow the export of high-quality agriculture products.”

Reynolds has spent $2 million this year deploying Iowa National Guard soldiers and Iowa State Patrol officers to the U.S.-Mexico border to aid Texas as it copes with the surge.

While acknowledging the "humanitarian needs on the U.S.-Mexico border," nearly 50 agriculture groups wrote to Mayorkas Wednesday, saying the border closings back up the rail system to the U.S.-Canada line.

“For agriculture, nearly two-thirds of all U.S. agricultural exports to Mexico move via rail. It was our second-largest export market in 2022 with $28.5 billion in sales, and this year exports to Mexico have been a bright spot in a relatively down year for overall U.S. agricultural exports,” the groups wrote, urging Mayorkas to reopen the crossings.

“Each day the crossings are closed we estimate almost 1 million bushels of grain exports are potentially lost along with export potential for many other agricultural products,” the groups that included the National Corn Growers Association, American Soybean Association and Renewable Fuels Association.

“We are aware of grain trains sitting at origin in at least six states that are unable to move, and we expect this number to grow,” the groups said. “We have also heard of customers in Mexico telling U.S. suppliers they will begin to look to other countries if the U.S. cannot provide a resilient and reliable supply chain.”

ISU ag economist: Closures more likely to affect perishable good in short term

Chad Hart, an Iowa State University agricultural economist, said the impact on Iowa agriculture depends on how long the crossings remain closed. With drought lowering the Mississippi River and slowing barge traffic this year, "We're seeing a lot of logistical issues right now in getting our crop to the markets we're trying to reach. So it's hampering sales across the globe," Hart said.

The Texas closures are more likely to affect perishable goods like refrigerated U.S. pork headed to Mexico — or Mexican fruits and vegetables headed to the U.S. — than nonperishable goods like grain, he said.

But the grain trade also is important. Mexico has been a strong market for U.S. corn this year, he said, and “we really don't want anything to slow down that positive momentum.”

The challenge for the Biden administration is to balance border security with trade concerns, he said.

Former President Donald Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Republican presidential candidates have slammed Biden’s handling of immigrant border crossings. Four months ago, hundreds of migrants attempt to breach the northbound railroad bridge over the Rio Grande between Downtown El Paso and Juárez after a false rumor that the U.S. would "open the border" on Aug. 8.

“The goal of the shutdown is to limit immigrant migration, but it comes at a cost,” Hart said.

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The American Association of Railroads said Union Pacific, which along with BNSF carries goods through the crossings daily, estimates about $200 million in goods, wages and transportation costs are lost each day the El Paso and Eagle Pass border crossings remain closed.

Ultimately, every railroad is impacted by the shutdown, the association said.

The clash comes amid tense negotiations in which Republicans are insisting on sterner border measures as part of Biden-backed aid to Ukraine in its war against Russian invaders.

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Some Democrats are backing a bill dubbed the Dignity Act that would bolster border screening infrastructure, offer temporary legal status for undocumented immigrants and reform the migrant worker program.

"As I’ve said innumerable times, the situation at the border is unsustainable and inhumane," one of the supporters, U.S. Rep. Veronica Escobar, an El Paso Democrat, said in response to the railway closure on the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter. "Communities like El Paso need Congressional action. Instead of recycling bad policy, the Senate should look at real immigration solutions like the #DignityAct."

Donnelle Eller covers agriculture and the environment for the Des Moines Register.Reach her at deller@registermedia.com.

El Paso Times reporters Daniel Borunda and Vic Kolenc contributed to this report.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Republicans pressure Biden to open key Texas-Mexico rail crossings