Peter Weber, Senior editor
Tue, April 12, 2022
El Paso border crossing Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc/Getty Images
After Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) ordered state troopers last week to begin inspecting commercial trucks bringing produce and other goods into the state from Mexico, a job already performed by federal Customs and Border Enforcement agents, truck traffic backed up for miles as the wait to cross the border jumped significantly, The Texas Tribune reported Monday.
At times, the Tribune reports, "troopers appear to be checking every commercial vehicle that crosses select international bridges, with each inspection taking between 45 minutes and an hour." Mexican truckers have blocked traffic at key border crossings in protest, making the wait time even longer.
"The bridge connecting Pharr and Reynosa is the busiest trade crossing in the Rio Grande Valley and handles the majority of the produce that crosses into the U.S. from Mexico, including avocados, broccoli, peppers, strawberries, and tomatoes," the Tribune reports. "International bridges elsewhere in the Valley ... have also seen delays, with many commercial products produced in Mexico — like electronics, vehicle parts, and medical instruments — also held up."
Abbott said he was ordering the Department of Public Safety to inspect trucks in response to the Biden administration's phase-out of using Title 42, a temporary public health measure, to immediately deport Central American migrants to Mexico. Drug cartels use commercial trucks to smuggle people and drugs into the U.S., Abbott said.
Truckers told Reynosa's El Mañana newspaper they had waited there or four days at the border bridge and were running out of fuel. "We are losing just as much as them," one trucker said. "When they start needing more produce, the prices are going to go up."
Lawmakers and officials along the border said Abbott's order was hurting business. "There are security issues, but that's why our federal partners are there," Teclo Garcia, economic development director for Laredo, told the Tribune. "The real impact is going to be in the supply chain, which is already strained, and the consumer."
"Many of my constituents are asking 'Why are we being punished?' The Valley supports border security, but this doesn't seem to have much or anything to do with border security," state Sen. Juan "Chuy" Hinojosa (D) said Monday. "This is hurting people in their pocketbook." Abbott's office didn't respond to the Tribune's request for comment.
Trucker protests expand at U.S.-Mexico border over lengthy wait times
Mexican truck drivers protest truck inspections imposed by
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, in Ciudad Juarez
Tue, April 12, 2022
By Lizbeth Diaz and Ted Hesson
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Mexican truck drivers blockaded bridges at the U.S. border for a second day on Tuesday to protest an order by the Texas governor meant to increase safety inspections that has snarled traffic and led business groups to warn of supply chain disruptions.
Mexico's government said in a statement it "rejects" the inspections imposed by Texas, estimating that two-thirds of normal trade was being held up and costing "significant revenue" for both U.S. and Mexican businesses.
The slowdowns began after Abbott, a Republican, ordered officials last week to conduct vehicle safety inspections at entry ports to uncover smuggling of people and contraband.
"Yesterday it took me 17 hours to cross into the United States and return," said Raymundo Galicia, a Mexican driver protesting at the Santa Teresa bridge connecting San Jeronimo, Chihuahua, to Santa Teresa, New Mexico.
The bridge is the third in the bustling Ciudad Juarez-El Paso area to be blockaded by drivers who have seen their pay plummet since lengthy wait times began last week.
Traffic at a fourth bridge connecting Reynosa to Pharr, Texas, was also halted on Tuesday by drivers who parked their trucks and began barbecuing on the Mexican side of the port of entry, according to photos sent to Reuters.
"I get paid the same whether it takes me an hour or ten hours to cross, so this is affecting us a lot," Galicia said, noting he and his co-workers would target more bridges if delays continued.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) said in a statement the long waits were due to "additional and unnecessary inspections" ordered by Abbott and were causing "critical impacts to an already-strained supply chain."
The new measures have infuriated industry groups, which have warned of shortages of perishable products over the Easter holiday weekend.
"This plan is ... exacerbating our already disrupted supply chain, and will cripple an economy that relies so heavily on cross-border trade," U.S. Representative Veronica Escobar, a Democrat whose district includes most of El Paso, tweeted on Tuesday.
Mexico's National Chamber of Freight Transportation estimated the delays at the Pharr bridge alone caused economic losses of $8 million per day and called on Abbott to withdraw the order to prevent a "collapse in international cross-border trade."
(Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City and Ted Hesson in Washington, additional reporting by Laura Gottesdiener in Monterrey, MexicoEditing by Alistair Bell and Aurora Ellis)
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