Nearly 600 layoffs announced at Brownsville facilities tied to First Brands bankruptcy

Another 572 layoffs were announced Thursday at Brownsville facilities tied to First Brands Group, bringing the total number of job cuts linked to the company’s bankruptcy to more than 1,900 across South Texas and northern Mexico.

More than 600 of those jobs are in South Texas, while about 1,300 are in Matamoros.

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About 40 years ago, windshield wiper manufacturer Trico Products Inc. relocated its production facilities from Buffalo, New York, to the U.S.-Mexico border towns of Brownsville and Matamoros. 

In the late 1980s, Trico employed about 450 people in Brownsville and 850 in Matamoros. 

The twin plant model, with some manufacturing in Texas and the rest in Mexico, was supercharged by the North American Free Trade Agreement in the 1990s. The successor to NAFTA, known as the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, is under negotiation again by the Donald Trump Administration. 

For years, those manufacturing jobs stayed in the Rio Grande Valley — with the exception of a downturn in the auto industry in 2007, when Trico laid off dozens in Brownsville. 

Now Trico is permanently closing its Brownsville manufacturing facility and laying off 346 workers by April 30, including dozens of machine operators, according to a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Act letter. 

The manufacturing site, at 1995 Billy Mitchell Boulevard, sits across the street from the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport. 

In 2020, Trico changed its name to First Brands Group and acquired several other automotive parts manufacturers, including brake manufacturers. 

But in September 2025, First Brands Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. 

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First Brands Group’s Trico Titan Distribution Center at 6700 Paredes Line Road and 2705 Quality Lane in Brownsville will also lay off 183 workers by the end of April. Those jobs include material handlers, assemblers, managers, and clerks. 

The company’s ASC facility at 1990 Billy Mitchell Boulevard is also laying off 43 workers by April 30, which includes mostly assemblers, material handlers, and clerks. 

That bankruptcy also previously affected First Brands Group’s Harlingen facility, otherwise known as Cardone, which laid off 41 workers. 

Read more: Auto parts manufacturer lays off 41 in Harlingen as Matamoros shutdown unfolds

So that means the collapse of First Brands Group has meant the loss of at least 600 jobs across the Rio Grande Valley and about 1,300 more in Matamoros. 

First Brands Group’s Mexican subsidiaries laid off workers several weeks ago.