Texas Gov. Greg Abbott stepped down on Wednesday, agreeing to ease additional truck security checks at the busiest border entrance near Laredo in exchange for promises of greater border security by Mexican officials along an 8-kilometer stretch. from the border.
The move comes after Abbott has endured days of waning criticism from both Democrats and Republicans and has been repulsed by shipping companies and the Texas Truck Association.
Since he conducted more in-depth inspections a week ago, truck traffic at many Texas ports of call has stopped. In Laredo, the country’s largest truck port, the normal 30 minutes or less to cross increases to three hours or more, slowing deliveries to everything from products to electronics and increasing costs for truck companies.
But Abbott said Wednesday that the easing of inspections is only on the 8-kilometer stretch of the border with Nuevo Leon, which has only a small part of the 1,254-mile border with Texas. Abbott said he was in talks with leaders of other Mexican states to work out similar agreements in exchange for speeding up inspections in Texas.
“As Nuevo Leon increases its security at its border, the Texas Department of Public Safety may return to its previous practice of random searches of vehicles crossing the Neuvo Leon bridge,” Abbott told Nuevo Governor Leon Samuel. Alejandro Garcia Sepulveda next to him.
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Almost instantly, the waiting time fell for truck drivers trying to cross the Columbia-Solidarity Bridge in Laredo, which connects Nuevo Leon to Interstate 35 and is the busiest port in Texas for truck traffic coming from Mexico. More than 2.5 million trucks passed through Laredo in 2021, according to the US Department of Transportation.
At 3 p.m., it took these trucks six hours to cross the bridge. Within an hour of Abbott signing his agreement with Garcia, the wait was reduced to five minutes.
Abbott was far from acknowledging his defeat Wednesday, insisting that heightened inspections have always been to improve road safety in Texas and force Mexican officials to do more at the border.
DPS officials estimated that they found that 25 percent of all vehicles crossing the border had serious mechanical problems, such as poor brakes or tires.
“There may be Texans whose lives have been saved because of vehicles taken out of service by the Texas Department of Public Safety,” Abbott said. “Because otherwise these dangerous vehicles with dangerous brakes could run into a Texan passing through the road or driving down the road.”
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Last week, Abbott instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety to step up truck inspections because “cartels carrying illegal smuggling and people across our southern border are not interested in the condition of the vehicles they send to Texas.”
However, government officials were not allowed to inspect vehicles for illegal drugs or human trafficking. They could only check the operating conditions of the vehicle, such as brakes, tires and taillights.
But when those inspections began, travel time in the busiest ports for truck traffic increased, with drivers saying the wait lasted eight hours at some border crossings, forcing truck drivers to burn more diesel and risking perishable goods such as products.
In Mexico, the governor’s order sparked a riot by truck drivers who imposed blockades, stopping all American trucks from entering the country at key points in Hidalgo County and El Paso.
The White House criticized Abbott on Wednesday, saying his actions were leading to more supply chain disruptions and hampering US customs controls at the border.
“The continued flow of legitimate trade and travel and CBP’s ability to do its job should not be hampered,” White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said in a statement.
Even Abbott’s biggest allies have begun to turn against his policies in recent days. The Texas Truck Association, which approved his re-election just two months ago, issued a statement criticizing the policy.
“Unfortunately, this new initiative duplicates existing screening efforts and leads to significant congestion, slowing down products that Americans rely on from our largest trading partner, Mexico,” said John D. Esparza, president and CEO of TXTA.
Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, a Republican, called Abbott’s inspections “catastrophic.”
“This does not solve the border problem, but increases the price of food and increases the supply chain shortage,” Miller said.
Abbott accuses the Biden administration of not doing more to secure the border. He said he needed to take unprecedented action to make up for Biden’s neglect, and that the goal was all the time to make sure people understood the consequences of the open border and that “Texas will no longer tolerate it.”
Abbott said he knew the order would lead to Mexican officials turning to him and that he could directly insist on better security on their part. He acknowledges Garcia’s commitment to stepping up patrols on the border south of Rio Grande.
“We are ready to make an effort to patrol all those 14 kilometers we have with Texas to set an example for other states in Mexico,” Garcia said on Wednesday.
Abbott said the DPS had already observed increased patrols in Nuevo Leon at the entrance port and along the river.
jeremy.wallace@chron
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