Gov. Gregg Abbott’s decision to step up commercial vehicle safety inspections, which set off reactionary protests by truck drivers, continues to snarl traffic at the border. Here’s the latest:
Standing fast
At a news conference, Abbott said he would remain committed to “enhanced” inspections at Texas-Mexico border crossings despite intense international economic and political pressure to end the policy that gridlocked commercial traffic. He did reach an agreement with the governor of the Mexican state of Nuevo Leon to lighten up inspections at one bridge in exchange for increase security measures inside Mexico.
“The goal all along has been to ensure that people understood the consequences of an open border and that Texas isn’t going to tolerate it anymore,” Abbott said Wednesday. “We knew that as soon as we did what we did on the border that we would be contacted by officials in Mexico. Sometimes it just takes action like that to spur people sitting down and working things out.”
Slow and slower
Abbott said his plan to increase the number of state inspections is in response to the Biden administration’s decision to end the pandemic-era Title 42 health order allowing for the rapid expulsion of migrants who cross the border. During the increased safety inspections, state workers could possibly discover more of the thousands of migrants who are crossing the border every day, many hoping to seek asylum in the U.S.
The state has not said whether any smuggled people or drugs have been intercepted since the increased inspections began.
The federal government says waits for commercial vehicles to cross the border have been up to 12 hours long, while some truckers have said in interviews that they had to wait up to three days to cross. Eyewitness reports indicated that traffic resumed a normal flow across some international bridges for at least a few hours Wednesday, but by the evening lines were backed up again across most of the border.
Supply chain worries
John D. Esparza, president and CEO of the Texas Trucking Association, warned in a statement Wednesday that increased delays in border crossings could lead to postponed or canceled deliveries, and “perishable goods spoil, and grocery and retail store shelves begin to empty.” He said Abbott’s stepped up inspections, “duplicates existing screening efforts and leads to significant congestion, delaying the products Americans rely on from our largest trading partner, Mexico.”
Mexico is Texas’ No. 1 trading partner. Texas and Mexico share a 1,254-mile border that’s connected by more than 27 international crossing points. The two economies are in many ways integrated into one. In 2021, there was more than $661 billion in trade between the U.S. and Mexico, according to U.S. Census data.
What’s next?
Abbott said heightened inspections of commercial crossings will continue at the more than two dozen other crossings in Texas until leaders in other Mexican states come forward with further plans to secure their sides of the international border. He is expected to speak with other Mexican governors in the coming days.
But will they play ball?
The governors of Coahuila and Tamaulipas, which share a border with Texas, issued a joint statement to Abbott on Tuesday night warning the new inspection measures “are creating havoc and economic pain on both sides of the border.”
“Unfortunately, political points have never been a good recipe to address common challenges or threats,” said Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco Javier Cabeza de Vaca and Coahuila Governor Miguel Angel Riguelme Solis.
