AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Gov. Greg Abbott doubled down on his commitment to “enhanced” inspections at Texas-Mexico border crossings Wednesday, despite intense international economic and political pressure to end the policy that has gridlocked commercial traffic.
Abbott pledged to lift the extra inspections only when Mexico leaders come forward with plans to secure their side of the internal border.
In what he called a “historic” agreement, Abbott inked a deal with the governor of Nuevo Leon to resume normal inspections, so long as the Mexican state beefs up checkpoints and patrols along its 12-mile stretch of the border.
“Clogged bridges can end only through the type of collaboration that we are demonstrating today between Texas and Nuevo Leon,” said Abbott, who sat beside Nuevo Leon Gov. Samuel Alejandro Garcia Sepulveda at a news conference held in Laredo.
“If you want relief from the clogged border, you need to call President Biden,” Abbott said.
Abbott and Garcia announced that at the one bridge between their states, Texas troopers would resume normal random inspections. Calling it a “historic” agreement, Abbott said he and Garcia had agreed that since Nuevo Leon had agreed to create a new security checkpoint within Mexico to check commercial traffic, old operations could resume on the U.S. side.
“Clogged bridges can end only through the type of collaboration that we are demonstrating today between Texas and Nuevo Leon,” said Abbott, who plans to seek similar agreements with other Mexican states.
Until President Joe Biden ramps up border efforts, Abbott said Texas will continue to use “its own strategies to secure the border and continue to negotiate with Mexico to seek solutions.”
Garcia agreed to set up a checkpoint at the Laredo-Columbia Solidarity International Bridge that connects Laredo to Anahuac, Nuevo Leon.
The checkpoint would be a joint state and federal operation.
Abbott ordered “enhanced” safety inspections of all commercial trucks last week, creating a massive backlog at Texas-Mexico border crossing, generating protests and intense criticism from trade, business and political leaders.
Abbott ordered the increased safety inspections April 6 as an expansion of his Operation Lone Star border security effort. The state has spent billions of dollars on the operation, which includes calling up 10,000 Texas National Guard soldiers and sending them to the border along with state troopers.
The Republican governor unveiled the inspection plan in response to the Biden administration’s decision to end the public health order known as Title 42, which has been used to quickly expel migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border.
But the stepped-up safety inspections — which are in addition to other inspections by the federal authorities — have increased wait times at the border. U.S. Customs and Border Protection says wait times for commercial crossings are now as long as 12 hours, while some truckers interviewed at the crossings say they have had to wait two and three days to cross.
“Governor Abbott’s unnecessary and redundant inspections of trucks transiting ports of entry between Texas and Mexico are causing significant disruptions to the food and automobile supply chains, delaying manufacturing, impacting jobs, and raising prices for families in Texas and across the country,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Wednesday in a statement.
“The continuous flow of legitimate trade and travel and CBP’s ability to do its job should not be obstructed. Governor Abbott’s actions are impacting people’s jobs, and the livelihoods of hardworking American families,” the statement said.
Four Mexican states share the border with Texas.
The governors of Coahuila and Tamaulipas, which share a border with Texas, issued a joint statement to Abbott Tuesday night that in part read: “The new inspections measures are creating havoc and economic pain on both sides of the border, and as a this Quad-State region suffers, so is Texas and vice-versa. Unfortunately, political points have never been a good recipe to address common challenges or threats.” The letter was signed by Tamaulipas Gov. Francisco Javier Cabeza de Vaca and Coahuila Gov. Miguel Angel Riguelme Solis, imploring Abbott to “reconsider these overzealous inspections.”
In Reynosa alone, the city across the border from Pharr, Texas, long inspections affected 70% of the maquila industry, with losses of more than $122.9 million, said Aldo Hernandez Jacquez, spokesman for the state of Tamaulipas.
Abbott, up for reelection, ordered the additional safety inspections after declaring that the Biden administration had failed the country when it comes to border safety. He has said DPS workers inspecting the commercial vehicles would disrupt efforts to smuggle people and drugs across the border.
DPS said Wednesday that the agency inspected 4,133 commercial vehicles between the start of the stepped up inspections and the end of Tuesday. It said 973 vehicles “were placed out of service for serious safety violations to include defective brakes, defective tires and defective lighting. Additionally, 84 commercial vehicle drivers were placed out of service.”
The agency said a total of 13,651 violations had been found. But the agency did not respond to questions about how many migrants had been smuggled across the border or how much drugs had been discovered.
The disruptions to normal business along the border have raised the ire of both Republican and Democrats alike in political and business circles. On Tuesday, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller became the most prominent state official to call for an end to the inspection policy, saying it was “turning a crisis into a catastrophe.”
John D. Esparza, president and CEO of the Texas Trucking Association, noted in a statement Wednesday that his organization favors border safety, but, “Unfortunately, this new initiative duplicates existing screening efforts and leads to significant congestion, delaying the products Americans rely on from our largest trading partner, Mexico.”
“The current situation on the border simply cannot be sustained and we urge President Joe Biden and Governor Greg Abbott to come together before our economy endures further irreparable damage,” he said.
Esparza warned 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.”
Early Wednesday, CPB said commercial traffic at Pharr International Bridge, Anzalduas Bridge and Progreso Bridge had come to a complete halt in both directions due to protests by truckers on the Mexican side of the border “and due to no southbound movement by U.S. carriers.”
Some traffic was seen moving again by midday at the Anzalduas bridge. Other trucks were being diverted to other crossings, but the trucker protests had spread as far as the crossings in Santa Teresa, New Mexico, as of late Tuesday, blocking traffic there.
State Democrats, meanwhile, came out swinging against all of Operation Lone Star.
“Operation Lone Star’s budget has ballooned to $3 billion, jeopardized the livelihood of 10,000 Texas National Guard soldiers, and now is crippling Texas’s supply chain. We need accountability,” said state Rep. Mary González, a Clint Democrat, vice chair of the Mexican American Legislative Caucus. “This operation is costing taxpayers $2.5 million a week. It is unclear how much his most recent border policies will cost Texas taxpayers.”
MALC, the Texas House Democratic Caucus, and the Texas Legislative Black Caucus announced the creation of a task force to address accountability for Operation Lone Star and study legislative reforms.
“Gov. Abbott should be focused on growing the Texas economy and finding real solutions to the problems at the border — instead, he’s causing intense supply chain issues with our No. 1 trading partner and major delays across the state to further his personal political agenda,” said Grand Prairie Rep. Chris Turner, chairman of the Texas House Democratic Caucus and of the House committee on business and industry.
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.
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(Morning News staff Writer Alfredo Corchado reported from El Paso, staff writer Allie Morris reported from Austin and staff writer Dianne Solis reported from Pharr.)
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