25,000 Drivers Lost: US-Mexico Border Crisis Explained
Cross-border freight capacity is facing unprecedented challenges. With 25,000 Mexican driver visas revoked, and significant tender rejections at both the US-Mexico and US-Canada borders, rates are skyrocketing. Learn why these constraints are expected to continue well into 2027 and how it impacts your supply chain. U.S. authorities have revoked visas for roughly 25,000 Mexican truck […] The post…
The US-Mexico border crisis has been exacerbated by the revocation of 25,000 Mexican driver visas, leading to severe capacity constraints and rising freight rates. FreightWaves data show tender rejections at key border lanes such as El Paso, San Diego/Otay Mesa, and Laredo have reached 20% to 25%, while national tender rejection rates have surged from 5.7% to 13.8%.
The shortage is primarily due to a lack of driver availability and visa revocations, with Mexico being the main driver of the supply-side squeeze. Spot rates on high-volume Mexico-origin corridors have climbed 28% to 57% year over year, with El Paso-to-Dallas seeing the most significant increase at 28%. In contrast, the Canadian border is experiencing a freight imbalance, with strong exports but weak northbound return loads.
This imbalance has pushed rejection rates to 5.5% and rates on select Canada corridors up 20% to 35% over six weeks. Both borders are expected to remain tight through 2027, with rejection rates 2 to 3 times higher than a year ago. Shippers and brokers should brace for continued rate increases despite relatively soft demand.
Written by urgent.news from FreightWaves's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
