SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - MAY 3: Traffic backs up the San Ysidro Southbound Inspection as people enter Tijuana, Mexico at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry on May 3, 2025 in San Diego, California. (Photo by Kevin Carter/Getty Images)
San Diego, California – A coordinated teachers’ protest across the U.S.–Mexico border briefly halted all southbound traffic on Interstate 5 Monday morning, as members of Mexico’s powerful National Coordinator of Education Workers (CNTE) blocked access to the San Ysidro Port of Entry.
The demonstration, part of a broader national strike by the CNTE, began around 11 a.m., prompting the California Highway Patrol to issue a Sig Alert due to severe congestion. Protesters—led in Baja California by José Marco Antonio Pacheco Peña—formed a human blockade just beyond the U.S. checkpoint, preventing vehicles from entering Mexico and creating a bottleneck along one of the busiest land border crossings in the world.
According to Caltrans, all lanes were reopened by 12:30 p.m., but residual traffic delays persisted as southbound commuters adjusted their routes. This protest marks the second major CNTE demonstration at the San Ysidro Port of Entry in less than a year. A similar protest last August temporarily shut down the northbound lanes, also over wage and pension demands.
At the core of the teachers’ grievances are long-standing disputes over compensation and retirement security. In particular, the union is demanding the repeal of the ISSSTE law of 2007 and the 1997 Social Security law—both of which, teachers say, eroded hard-won pension guarantees and transferred their retirement savings into the Afore system, a set of private retirement funds criticized by public sector workers for being volatile and inadequate.
“We’re starting in Tijuana, where the country begins,” said Pacheco Peña in an interview Monday. “This is a direct action to make sure the teachers are heard and to show that the protests aren’t just happening in four states.” He added that the blockade was part of a national strategy, with the potential to expand into international actions and economic disruptions at other key commercial border crossings.
Pacheco Peña accused the federal government of turning its back on educators after riding a wave of grassroots support—including from CNTE teachers—into power. “Now they call us neoliberals and conservatives,” he said, “but we’ve always fought against that. We demand that they keep their word—promise or not—because that’s what’s right.”
The CNTE, a dissident faction within Mexico’s broader national teachers’ union, has long been at odds with both federal administrations and its union leadership, particularly over reforms perceived as privatizing education and undermining job security. Since May, the union has intensified its tactics, including setting up a growing protest encampment in Mexico City.
In Baja California, Monday’s action marked a significant escalation. Teachers have been warned of further disruption if their demands remain unmet, including an international mobilization coordinated with unions from Central and South America. While the immediate traffic impact was limited to roughly 90 minutes, the demonstration underscored the strategic leverage that teachers can wield by targeting key points of transnational movement and trade.
As thousands of daily cross-border travelers felt the ripple effects, officials urged drivers to consider alternate crossings such as Otay Mesa, though even those routes saw heavier-than-normal congestion.
While the protest was nonviolent and no arrests were reported, its visibility and economic implications signal more friction to come. For now, CNTE’s message remains focused and forceful: listen to the teachers—or prepare for more disruption at the nation’s most vital borders.
