Heinrich, Luján, Vasquez Applaud Completion of Proposal to Expand Santa Teresa Port of Entry, Urge CBP to Make Modernization & Expansion a Top Priority

WASHINGTON – Today, in a letter to the General Services Administration (GSA) and U.S Customs and Border Protection (CBP), U.S. Senators Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.) and Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), and U.S. Representative Gabe Vasquez (D-N.M.) commended the completion of a feasibility study on the modernization and expansion of the Santa Teresa Land Port of Entry (STLPOE) in southern New Mexico and urged both agencies to make this project a top priority. 

This letter comes after a recent push from Heinrich in March for the agencies to promptly complete the feasibility study Heinrich and Luján funded to expand and modernize the Santa Teresa Port of Entry (STLPOE).  

In today’s letter, the lawmakers wrote, “We strongly support the findings of the feasibility study and believe that STLPOE can serve as a model for land ports along the southern border. We urge you to closely adhere to the feasibility study’s findings in your internal discussions over the project’s prioritization and to place STLPOE’s modernization and expansion in your respective 5-Year Capital Investment Plans as highly and as quickly as possible.”  

Background:  

Funded through Congressionally Directed Spending that Heinrich and Lujan secured in the Fiscal Year 2022 Omnibus Appropriations Agreement, the completed feasibility study found that the agencies should proposed a major expansion that would make Santa Teresa one of the largest commercial land ports of entry on the entire southern border.  

GSA and CBP first presented their initial findings from this feasibility study to the public a community briefing on March 6, 2024. Following that meeting, Heinrich sent a letter to CBP and GSA urging prompt completion of the study and swift approval of modernization and expansion plans. 

Today, at a follow-up and final community briefing, the two agencies announced that they have completed the study, which includes findings to expand the port to fourteen northbound commercial lanes, ten northbound passenger lanes, four southbound lanes, and three dedicated Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) inspection bays. 

Now that the agencies have completed the study, Heinrich, Luján, and Vasquez are urging them to adhere as closely to its findings as possible and to move forward expeditiously on the next steps to approve and commence the modernization and expansion of the STLPOE. 

Heinrich has worked for more than a decade to expand and invest in the Santa Teresa Port of Entry. During his tenure in Congress, he and the New Mexico Delegation have successfully secured millions of federal dollars to invest in the road, rail, and air cargo infrastructure in this rapidly growing center of New Mexico’s trade economy.  

You can find more information about all of Heinrich’s actions to secure forward-looking investments to modernize and expand the Santa Teresa Port of Entry HERE.  

Full text of the letter can be found HERE and below:  

Dear Administrator Carnahan and Acting Commissioner Miller,  

We applaud U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the General Services Administration’s (GSA) work in completing the feasibility study for the modernization and expansion of the Santa Teresa Land Port of Entry (STLPOE) and the findings produced as a result of that study. And now that the feasibility study has been completed, we urge you to adhere as closely to its findings as possible, to treat STLPOE’s modernization and expansion as a top priority for both agencies, and to expeditiously place the project in both CBP’s and GSA’s 5-Year Capital Investment Plan as such. 

We urge you to immediately begin the investigations necessary for you to determine whether the project will require an Environmental Impact Statement or an Environmental Assessment to be in compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act and to begin the formal work of conducting those assessments, if necessary.  

Additionally, the scope of the proposed expansion of —twelve additional northbound commercial lanes, two additional southbound commercial lanes, and six additional northbound passenger lanes—suggests that this project has the potential to dramatically strengthen the United States’ supply chains, facilitating increased domestic production and improving the economic well-being of New Mexicans and all Americans. Congress has a strong interest in enabling Santa Teresa to play the role of a keystone port along our southern border, as it is already a critical facilitator of international trade with our nation’s largest trading partner – despite outdated infrastructure and only three northbound commercial lanes. Therefore, we also urge you to begin work on the site acquisition and design prospectus immediately and submit the prospectus to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) as quickly as possible, so that OMB can in turn submit their authorization to Congress for approval.  

Lastly, we request that both CBP and GSA provide updates to the community and to Congress on the project’s prioritization, any changes, if any, to the specifications of the proposed expansion and modernization outlined in the feasibility study, the progress you have made towards completing an environmental assessment and site acquisition and design prospectus, and whether you believe this project will require an updated Presidential Permit.  

We strongly support the findings of the feasibility study and believe that STPLOE can serve as a model for land ports along the southern border. We urge you to closely adhere to the feasibility study’s findings in your internal discussions over the project’s prioritization and to place STLPOE’s modernization and expansion in your respective 5-Year Capital Investment Plans as highly and as quickly as possible. And as you continue your work throughout this process, we stand ready to assist you in any way we can to expedite it and move it closer to completion. 

Sincerely, 

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