AUSTIN, Texas — Texas GOP Gov. Greg Abbott is under pressure from Mexican truckers and his own state agriculture commissioner to end his new policy of reinspecting commercial trucks crossing the southern border, a move meant to crack down on cartel smuggling that has instead slowed trade.
As a blockade by Mexican truckers for a second day dramatically slowed traffic across the Pharr International Bridge that connects Reynosa, Mexico, to the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, Texas Department of Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican, called on Abbott to stop the inspection immediately Tuesday.
“Up to 20,000 truckers cross the border on a normal day. My reports are that each inspection is taking an hour and has created a backlog of thousands of trucks clogging the border. Refrigerated produce is being ruined as trucks run out of fuel after being in line for over a day,” Miller said in a statement shared with the Washington Examiner.
On April 6, Abbott announced that the Department of Public Safety would set up 28 roadway inspection sites just north of the border in an effort to interdict commercial trucks attempting to smuggle people through the ports of entry. While all vehicles that pass through the ports of entry are supposed to be inspected by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, many are not physically examined due to a lack of resources.
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“Effective immediately, the Texas DPS will conduct enhanced safety inspections of vehicles as they cross the international ports of entry into Texas,” Abbott said at the time. “I know in advance this is going to dramatically slow traffic from Mexico into Texas. It is a byproduct of cartels crossing the border from Mexico into Texas.”
The DPS inspection of trucks arriving in Pharr and as many as two dozen other locations up and down the state’s border began April 6. Pharr Police Chief Andy Harvey visited the bridge Monday, when wait times for trucks were up to five hours. The wait times have only increased, topping 24 hours in some cases as trucks are rerouted to other ports of entry hundreds of miles away.
“There’s no movement coming northbound,” said Harvey. “People are frustrated as heck on the other side, especially if you’re trying to come north on it.”
Miller said Abbott needs to abandon the inspections, warning that the “misguided program is going to quickly lead to $2.00 lemons” and “$5.00 avocados and worse.” The bridge is a top route for imports of fresh produce.
“You cannot solve a border crisis by creating another crisis at the border,” Miller said. “This is not solving the border problem — it is increasing the cost of food and adding to supply chain shortages.”
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Abbott announced the truck inspections days after the Biden administration said it would soon stop immediately expelling illegal immigrants who came across the southern border — as had been the policy since the coronavirus pandemic erupted two years ago.
Of the 2,685 trucks inspected by Sunday, 646 were placed out of service for “serious safety violations,” including defective brakes, tires, and lighting, CNN reported.
