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.
???? Who really cleared the Pharr-Reynosa produce bridge? “Members of organized crime burned 4 trucks to force the truckers to lift their blockade that they had in protest of the new policies of the Texas governor…” per this report. https://t.co/T3JTTdK9Ja
— Dianne Solis ????? (@disolis) April 14, 2022
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