Gov. Greg Abbott is threatening to reinstate aggressive truck safety inspections at the border that just a week ago nearly halted shipments of goods and supplies from Mexico into Texas.
Hours after Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador on Monday called Abbott’s inspection program “despicable” at a press conference, Abbott warned he’s prepared to restart the program if López Obrador’s administration doesn’t do more to stop illegal immigration into Texas.
“I have the capability at any time to turn those inspections back on that will backlog those trucks that are trying to come across the border that will cause havoc in Mexico,” Abbott told Fox News host Sean Hannity.
But it’s not just Mexico that was hurt. Trucking groups, agriculture organizations and businesses in Texas have all warned Abbott that the border shut down hurt disrupted their businesses and their ability to get things like fresh produce to store shelves. One estimate from the city of Pharr on the Texas border pegged daily economic losses at $202 million per day. Another from Ray Perryman, president of the economic research firm Perryman Group, pegged the losses at $477 million a day in an interview with The Dallas Morning News.
On April 8, Abbott ordered all incoming trucks to undergo the safety inspections. Normally the state selects trucks that have obvious violations for the inspections. But Abbott’s order forced every truck to be inspected for up to an hour after going through U.S. Customs. The result was waits of up to eight hours for trucks that normally get into the U.S. within 30 minutes, and condemnations from shipping interests including the American Trucking Association.
At some bridges, all trade was halted as Mexican truck drivers protested the extra inspections and set up blockades.
A week later, Abbott announced he was easing the inspections at all bridges after receiving signed agreements from all four of the Mexican governors that share borders with Texas to do more immigration patrols south of the Rio Grande. Those agreements are non-binding, but Abbott warned last week when he signed the fourth that if those governors don’t live up to the deals, he’s not afraid to shut down commercial traffic again.
“If we do see increased trafficking across the border, we will strategically shut down certain bridges,” Abbott said as he lifted the last of his inspection orders at a press conference in Weslaco near the Texas border.
While Abbott has been criticized by both Republicans and Democrats for the program, he’s won praise from conservative media hosts Hannity and Tucker Carlson. After months of Carlson criticizing Abbott on a range of issues, Carlson called the border crackdown “promising.”
Praise from those two is particularly important for Abbott as he faces re-election against Democrat Beto O’Rourke, who came within 3 percentage points of winning a U.S. Senate seat in Texas in 2018. Abbott needs a big turnout from Republican voters to counteract O’Rourke’s proven ability to get Democrats to the polls.
O’Rourke has slammed Abbott’s border “stunt” for damaging border communities that rely so heavily on international trade.
“Abbott jacked up inflation, increased prices at our stores, hurt Texas businesses, killed jobs, and shut down billions of dollars in trade — all for a little attention from Tucker Carlson,” O’Rourke said on his social media accounts Tuesday.
Abbott has justified the inspections by saying they helped take unsafe trucks off Texas roadways, and the financial pain caused by the disruptions forced the White House and Mexican officials to pay attention to the border crisis.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection reported 221,303 encounters with migrants along the southern border in March, the most in decades as attempted crossings continue to rise.
It was the most border crossings reported since March 2000 and represented a more than 33-percent increase over February, driven in part by a growing number of Cubans trying to enter the U.S. through Mexico. There have been more than 1.2 million encounters since the fiscal year began in October, according to border patrol.
jeremy.wallace@chron.com
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Gov. Abbott threatens to shut down border trade with Mexico again - Houston Chronicle
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