Faced with a growing backlash from political parties and business groups, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Friday ended his policy of inspecting all commercial vehicles passing through the Mexican state in a time-consuming process that caused traffic jams of 14 hours or more. at the border.
Mr Abbott said his decision came after an agreement with Mexican Governor Tamaulipas, who united him at a news conference on Friday, to step up security measures on the Mexican side of the border at the entrance ports and along the Rio Grande.
Earlier this week, Mr Abbott said security inspections, which began on April 6, were part of a concerted effort to force Mexican officials to do more to stem the flow of migrants to the United States. He said Wednesday he would suspend inspections at an entry point – the bridge between Laredo and the Mexican city of Colombia, Nuevo Leon – just because the state’s governor has agreed to increase Mexican border security.
On Friday, Mr Abbott said he already had agreements with the governors of all four Mexican states bordering Texas to boost security. He left open the possibility of reissuing such a policy if the increase increases.
“If these crossings resume or increase, it will signal that cartel-supported crossings have increased and that Texas needs to restore a stricter standard for vehicle inspections,” Mr Abbott said, adding that the Texas Department of public safety can now return to conduct random searches of vehicles passing through Texas.
The policy is set against the backdrop of a broader battle that Mr Abbott is waging against the White House over immigration. The arrival of migrants is expected to increase sharply next month with the Biden administration’s plan to end the Trump-era pandemic policy, in which most unauthorized migrants are diverted to the border under an emergency public health order known as title 42.
Mr Abbott, a two-term Republican who will be re-elected in November, presented the inspections as a means of tackling the expected consequences of ending the policy. Thousands of additional migrants are expected to seek refuge across the border each day, most of them in Texas.
Mr Abbott strongly opposes some of the Biden administration’s efforts to ease restrictions on immigration from the Trump era. But with only the federal government in charge of such matters, Mr Abbott sought new strategies to involve the state in immigration law enforcement, such as arresting migrants for crime. Vehicle inspections were part of this effort. The carefully designed policy was aimed at smugglers and migrants, but was conducted in accordance with the powers of the state, namely the safety of vehicles.
But a chorus of votes – including politicians from both parties, business and trade groups, and US customs and border protection – called on the governor to repeal the policy because of its impact on the people and the wider economy at a time when the supply chain was already strained. .
In a press release Tuesday, customs and border officials said there were delays at major Texas outlets as a result of “additional and unnecessary checks” by state police, leading to a drop in trade traffic of up to 60 percent.
“The strength of the US economy relies heavily on the efficient flow of cross-border trade,” the agency said.
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