A trucker protest over the revocation of B-1 visas disrupted commercial traffic Thursday at the Calexico East-Mexicali border crossing, as Mexican drivers demanded answers from U.S. authorities about how cabotage rules are being enforced.

According to multiple Mexican news reports, drivers began blocking access to the commercial crossing on the Mexican side between Mexicali, Baja California, and Calexico, California, on Thursday morning. Protesters say U.S. authorities have been revoking B-1 visas following inspections and questioning about their activities in the U.S., AFN Tijuana reported.

The National Chamber of Freight Transportation (CANACAR) warned Wednesday that drivers from Mexicali and the surrounding region had called for a demonstration and a possible closure of the commercial border crossings at Mexicali and San Luis Río Colorado beginning at 5 a.m. Thursday. CANACAR's Mexicali office advised trucking companies to monitor developments and take precautions against possible disruptions to border access, transportation and operations.

The protest comes amid growing concern within Mexico's trucking industry over U.S. enforcement of restrictions on Mexican commercial drivers operating under B-1 visas. Mexican B-1 drivers are permitted to transport international cargo between Mexico and the United States but are prohibited from engaging in cabotage — hauling domestic freight between two points within the United States. Cabotage restrictions of this kind are a long-standing feature of cross-border trucking; U.S. law reserves domestic freight movements to U.S.-authorized carriers, a framework that has shaped U.S.-Mexico trucking relations since long before the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement replaced NAFTA in 2020. Drivers taking part in Thursday's protest are calling on U.S. authorities to provide clearer guidance on what activities constitute cabotage and what actions can lead to a B-1 visa being revoked.

Protesters alleged that 17 drivers had their visas revoked in Mexicali this week, Mexican outlets such as Quadratín Baja California reported, although accounts differ on precisely when those revocations occurred, and FreightWaves has not independently verified the number.

Ismael Reyes de la Rosa, CANACAR's representative in Mexicali, said in a television interview Thursday that the organization is asking drivers who have lost their visas to come forward so CANACAR can determine what happened. Reyes de la Rosa said he personally knows of 11 people whose visas were taken and called for the circumstances of those cases to be investigated.

The demonstration appears to be driver-led rather than formally organized by CANACAR. Several participants told Mexican media that drivers organized the blockade themselves.

An estimated 1,255 commercial trucks cross the Calexico East-Mexicali Port of Entry every day, generating around $2 billion in cross-border trade annually. A wide range of industrial, automotive, medical and agricultural goods move through the crossing. The crossing is one of several commercial ports along the California-Baja California and Sonora borders that handle a share of the freight moving under the U.S.-Mexico trade relationship, one of the largest bilateral trade flows in the world.

Reports Thursday also indicated that truckers were protesting at the commercial crossing in San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, and drivers warned that demonstrations could spread to other border crossings, including Tijuana, if authorities do not address their concerns.

FreightWaves has reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Protection for additional information.

A prolonged or expanding blockade over B-1 visa enforcement could disrupt truck capacity and freight flows at key U.S.-Mexico commercial crossings, adding a supply-chain dimension to a growing dispute between Mexican drivers and U.S. border authorities. Shippers and carriers moving goods through the region will likely be watching whether U.S. authorities respond to drivers' demands for clearer cabotage guidance and whether similar protests emerge at other ports of entry.