Nearly 4,400 manufacturing jobs cut across South Texas and northern Mexico this year

Layoffs are mounting across the Rio Grande Valley and the manufacturing hubs in northern Mexico it depends on.

Just this year, officials on both sides of the river have announced roughly 4,400 job cuts tied to the manufacturing sector.

Much of the fallout stems from two separate pressures: the bankruptcy of auto parts manufacturer First Brands Group and slowing demand in the U.S. auto industry.

Bankruptcy fallout

The latest cuts came Thursday, when First Brands announced 572 layoffs at facilities in Brownsville.

Those layoffs bring the total number of jobs lost in the Rio Grande Valley tied to the company’s collapse to more than 600, including earlier reductions at a Harlingen facility.

Across the border, the impact has been even larger. 

About 1,300 workers lost their jobs earlier this year in Matamoros after one of the plants there shut down following the bankruptcy.

Read more: Matamoros workers take maquila fight to Mexico’s federal labor courts as bankruptcy battle unfolds in the U.S.

Federal prosecutors believe the company’s collapse stems from a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme involving two brothers who led the company.

Demand shifts hit Reynosa

Reynosa officials say roughly 2,500 maquiladora jobs have been cut since the beginning of the year, with losses concentrated in plants tied to auto parts manufacturing, stainless steel production, and cross-border e-commerce logistics.

City officials and union leaders attributed much of the slowdown there to weaker U.S. auto demand and regulatory changes affecting cross-border e-commerce shipments.

Still, they say the losses reflect shifting global trade conditions rather than a structural contraction of the local economy. 

Together, the layoffs illustrate how quickly changes in global supply chains — from corporate collapses to shifts in consumer demand — can ripple through the border’s manufacturing economy.