CBP seizes $2.5M in meth hidden in tomatillo truck at Otay Mesa; driver’s visa canceled
FreightWaves · Oct 22, 2026
Nearly 1,600 pounds of narcotics, a federal investigation and an unexpected development involving the trucker. New details obtained by FreightWaves reveal what happened after the seizure.
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What this moves
Real friction: delays, added cost, or partial capacity loss.
Inspection-intensity changes cut effective crossing throughput within hours with no infrastructure change, and the queue prices into cross-border truckload immediately.
Check it yourself: DAT Truckload Volume & Rate Indexes (DAT Freight & Analytics)
Crossing volumes are concentrated in a few gateways, so a single crossing's delay becomes a national lead-time problem.
Check it yourself: Port & chokepoint transit tracking (IMF PortWatch)
The corridor
US–Mexico & US–Canada land crossings
Domestic corridorNorth AmericaLaredo, Otay Mesa, El Paso, Detroit–Windsor and Buffalo–Fort Erie carry the overwhelming majority of North American surface trade. Nearshoring has made these crossings, rather than the ocean ports, the growth constraint for a lot of US import volume.
- Inspection-intensity changes cut effective throughput within hours, with no change in physical infrastructure — a policy decision behaves like a capacity cut.
- Crossing queues are highly concentrated: Laredo alone handles a large share of US–Mexico truck freight, so a single crossing's problem is a national one.
- Tariff and customs-procedure changes produce front-loading surges ahead of an effective date, then a slump after it, distorting volumes in both directions.
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