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corralling of cattle acceptable for export to the United States.
The Santa Teresa facility included a building, sorting and weighing
facilities, and cattle pens.
Petitioner accepted the USDA-approved cattle from the San
Jeronimo facility and sorted and temporarily housed the cattle
until a U.S. purchaser arrived.3 (Usually this occurred within 24
hours or less.) Union Mexico provided all of petitioner’s
electricity and water.
The cattle generally spent 15 to 20 hours at the San Jeronimo
facility and 8 hours at the Santa Teresa facility. Before the
cattle left petitioner’s facility, a customs broker (an independent
contractor unrelated to petitioner or Union Mexico) collected fees
from the Mexican rancher/seller, including a $3 fee for each head
of cattle that crossed through the facility. Thereafter, the
3 The operations at the San Jeronimo/Santa Teresa
facilities were as follows: (1) A Mexican rancher delivered his
cattle to one or more of the eight unloading docks at the San
Jeronimo facility, at a scheduled date; (2) the cattle were
counted, weighed, and then housed, fed, and watered; (3) the
cattle rested for 6 to 12 hours; (4) Union Mexico’s employees
thereafter herded the cattle into inspection chutes where USDA
inspectors and their Mexican counterparts inspected the
livestock; rejected cattle remained in Mexico; (5) Union Mexico
provided offices, water, and electricity free of charge to the
USDA and Mexican inspectors; (6) the USDA-approved cattle were
herded out of the inspection chutes into bathing pools, where the
cattle were dipped fully in chemicals and sent to clean holding
pens; (7) after the cattle were dried, they were moved through
the Mexican corrals and herded on foot approximately 120 feet to
petitioner’s Santa Teresa facility; (8) here, the cattle were
herded through chutes, reweighed, and housed in feeding/watering
pens; and finally, (9) the cattle were loaded onto trucks for
shipment to the U.S. buyer.
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Last modified: May 25, 2011