Posted on 12/23/2007 9:27:16 AM PST by SwinneySwitch
If you're planning to spend Christmas in Nuevo Laredo, leave early. A crush of paisanos has southbound bridge traffic nearly at a standstill, and on Saturday morning cars were backed up all the way to the north side of the city as they waited to cross.
"We all knew this was going to happen," said Mucia Dovalina, a spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. "We knew we were going to get an onslaught."
Officials opened extra lanes at the bridge and extended vehicle processing hours in anticipation of the rush on the U.S. side of the border, and vehicles coming into the country have had to wait just about half an hour, Dovalina said.
The Mexican side, though, has been unable to keep up, she said.
"They didn't prepare for the surge that we knew was coming once school got out," she said.
Northbound traffic typically peaks in the first weeks of January, as paisanos return to the U.S.
There do seem to be more people crossing the border this holiday season than in previous seasons, Dovalina said.
One explanation for the increase may be that many paisanos want to visit their family in Mexico now, before stricter rules for returning to the U.S. take effect, Ramirez said.
To deal with the increase in traffic, the Laredo Police Department has 10 officers working overtime to patrol and direct traffic on Interstate 35, said Lieutenant Guadalupe Ortiz.
"We've got extra people down there," Ortiz said. "We knew it was coming and we were prepared."
But it didn't prevent the long line.
"I don't know what happened," he said. "Most years we were able to direct traffic and move traffic right along. That's why I'm thinking that it's probably on the Mexican side where it's taking longer."
As of Saturday afternoon, there had been several fender-benders reported among the mass of cars, but no major accidents, Ortiz said.
(Contact reporter Zachary Franz at 728-2582 or by e-mail at zfranz@lmtonline.com)
Paisanos Ping!
If you want on, or off this S. Texas/Mexico ping list, please FReepMail me.
Let all out who want to leave, no questions asked. Don’t let ANYONE back in without full documentation!
Excuse my apparent ignorance, but isn’t paisano an Italian expression?
Maybe they were thinking of campesino.
Means countryman in Spanish too.
“I don’t know what happened,” he said. “Most years we were able to direct traffic and move traffic right along.
Oh yeah, couldn’t be because of that extra 30 million[plus] that have moved here.
It’s a good thing the Bush administration has only built 3 miles of border fence, or these guys might have trouble getting back in. As it is, no problemo.
Now if they only stayed there.
We never referrred to Hispanics of the Mexican persuasion as Paisono; that was reserved for Italiano compadres.
As forPaisano...
It's from that other little old wine maker, them.
There's also a nice-a Italiano music to go with-a the cheap-a crappo!
The word (and meaning) is identical in Spanish (or Mexican).
I am sure that they are referring to illegal Americans going to Mexican public schools...
< /sarc >
Illegal vehicle transport across an international boundary. Drive ‘em out, sell ‘em, walk back in through the fence-less border.
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