AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas Department of Public Safety announced Tuesday it would renew enhanced vehicle inspections across border points of entry, a move that frustrated business leaders when it was used earlier this year and was soon halted.
The DPS did not announce how many points of entry would see inspections or provide specifics. It’s unclear what prompted the announcement.
“We are committed to enforcing compliance with safety standards and one of our department’s primary functions is to ensure Texas roadways are safe for all Texans and visitors to our great state,” Director Steven McCraw said in a statement. “Cartels do not care about the condition of the vehicles they send into Texas any more than they do about the human lives they cram into tractor-trailers or those lost to a fentanyl overdose.”
The DPS did not respond to additional questions.
“Mexican cartels and human traffickers have shown a clear disregard for those they smuggle in dangerous conditions, like the 53 migrants who died in a tractor trailer in San Antonio,” Renae Eze, spokeswoman for Gov. Greg Abbott, said in a statement. “We support DPS’ frequent enhanced commercial vehicle safety inspections in an effort to continue deterring cartel smuggling along our southern border and protecting the lives of those on Texas roadways.”
The New York Times reported Tuesday that inspections already were beginning at an international bridge in El Paso.
The move from DPS comes almost eight months after Abbott ended similar inspections that caused hours-long traffic jams along various points of entry. In announcing the end of the inspections in April, Abbott warned that he would bring back inspections unless leaders of four Mexican states that border Texas do more to slow down illegal immigration.
The previous inspections lasted less less than two weeks but the state still lost an estimated $477 million per day during the security checks, according to independent Texas economist Ray Perryman, president and CEO of the Perryman Group.
The enhanced inspections also come a month before the biennial Texas legislative session opens. State leaders, including Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, have already indicated that they will seek to further fund border security and Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. Texas has spent billions of dollars on the operation, which called up 10,000 Texas National Guard soldiers and sent them to the border.
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