Border town grows into founder's dream

Santa Teresa Port of Entry

KRQE - The original developer's grandiose dream for turning this wide-open swath of desert into a modern, bi-national industrial hub complete with country clubs and residential neighborhoods filled with workers was written off years ago as just another border boom gone bust. But some 40 years after the idea was born, this still unincorporated community that has long been dominated by El Paso and Juarez is beginning to make its bankrupt founder's vision appear prescient. Situated 40 miles south of Las Cruces, New Mexico's second largest city, Santa Teresa has become a U.S.-Mexico border development hot spot. It is literally a stone's throw across the border from computer and electronics manufacturing giant FoxConn, which operates Mexico's largest border assembly plant, or maquiladora. Then there's the $400 million rail hub being developed by Union Pacific on 2,200 acres on the U.S. side of the border. There are new roads on both sides of the border and an expanding border crossing that enables commercial carriers to avoid the congestion between Juarez and El Paso. Some Mexican companies are relocating north to escape the drug violence in their country, and a trend continues toward moving some manufacturing from Asia to Mexico. Combine that with thousands of acres of still available open land and Charlie Crowder's dream seems within reach. Read More News New Mexico

Border town grows into founder's dream