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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Texas Scraps Border Truck Inspections After Gridlock Ensues

Courtesy of ZeroHedge View original post here.

Texas has abandoned a program to inspect all trucks coming into the state from Mexico for illegal immigrants, after a chaotic week of protests, traffic jams and mounting pressure from industry on both sides of the border, according to Bloomberg.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott called off the inspections, signing an agreement with the governor of the border state of Tamaulipas on Friday that will end the safety checks, as long as officials on the Mexico side of the border step up surveillance.

Tamaulipas was the fourth and final border state to ink such a deal after Abbott triggered gridlock and angry trucker protests with an April 6 crackdown on northbound commercial traffic. Although Abbott initially said his decree was intended to curb undocumented immigration and drug smuggling, Texas state troopers targeted highway-safety issues such as bad brakes and other mechanical issues. -Bloomberg

According to the agreement, Tamaulipas agreed “to prevent illegal immigration from Mexico into Texas,” however Abbott warned that if enforcement on the Mexico side is lax, he will restart inspections.

Governors from Chihuahua, Coahuila, and Nuevo Leon have made similar agreements in recent days.

As we noted last week, Abbott’s controversial truck-inspection program ignited discontent with Mexican truckers who shut down the Reynosa International Bridge, one of the busiest trade crossings in the Rio Grande Valley and handles a large volume of fresh produce, four days ago. The Washington Examiner reports the bridge was forced to reopen Thursday after drug cartel members torched several trucks. 

The Texas Border sees more than $400 billion in annual trade – stoking concerns of bare store shelves right before Easter.The US imports about 50% of its vegetables and 40% of its fruit from Mexico

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