Short-haul truckers work the border

Most Mexican trucks can’t move freely in U.S., so drivers cross over — again and again

Written by
Sandra Dibble
12:38 p.m., Nov. 26, 2011

On a good day, Ruben Betancourt might spend two hours behind the wheel of a heavy-duty diesel truck hauling a cargo container from Tijuana to San Diego. Then he gets in line again, spending an hour to return to Mexico.

If he’s lucky, he’ll be able to turn around and repeat that cycle two more times — for a total of nine hours spent inching back and forth across the U.S.-Mexico border.

Betancourt is part of an army of Mexican short-distance truckers with iron endurance for long lines at the international border. They are sometimes known as drayage operators or burreros, Spanish for mule drivers. They haul goods between the two countries within a narrow geographic zone.

“It’s very tedious and very stressful,â€