Texas Gov. Greg Abbott Reverses on ‘Get Tough’ Border Inspections for Cargo Trucks

Democrats and Republicans, as well as the Texas Trucking Association, have pushed back against Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s ‘safety inspections’ at the southern US border that have caused protests and threatened a beleaguered supply.

Gov. Greg Abbott backtracked on his “get tough” border approach on Wednesday, announcing during a news conference in Laredo, Texas, that the Lone Star state would cease its controversial inspections of cargo trucks at the southern US border with Mexico.

Abbott claimed that the move came because he and Nuevo León Governor Samuel Alejandro García Sepúlveda signed a memorandum agreeing to enhance border security on Mexico’s side of the border.

“The effect of this will be at the bridge from Nuevo Leon to Texas, [traffic] will return to normal effective immediately,” he said during the news conference.

—BREAKING BETO NEWS—
Greg Abbott backs down.
In a press conference in Laredo, Texas with the Governor of Nuevo Leon, Greg Abbott abandons the “get tough”border policy he adopted less than a week ago.
“Texas will return to normal effective immediately, right now.”

4/13/22 pic.twitter.com/5LCwUT3kLx

— BetoMedia (@BetoMedia) April 13, 2022

Stops in Nuevo Leon have cost state businesses an estimated $100 million a day.

“Texans demand and deserve an aggressive, comprehensive border security strategy that will protect our communities from the dangerous consequences related to illegal immigration,” Abbott said in a follow-up statement.

He also railed against the Biden administration, threatening that Texas will continue to use such strategies until federal solutions appear.

“Until President Biden enforces the immigration laws passed by Congress, Texas will step up and use its own strategies to secure the border and negotiate with Mexico to seek solutions that will keep Texans safe,” Abbott wrote.

In a move now deemed by many as a political ploy, Abbott announced that inspections of cargo vehicles would begin in response to the federal government's plans to end Title 42, a Trump-era expulsion policy that used COVID-19 and public health as the basis for the expulsion of migrants seeking asylum in the US.

The White House previously spoke out in protest of Abbott’s move, calling it “redundant.”

“Governor Abbott’s unnecessary and redundant inspections of trucks transiting ports of entry between Texas and Mexico are causing significant disruptions to the food and automobile supply chains, delaying manufacturing, impacting jobs, and raising prices for families in Texas and across the country,” read the White House memo.

“Governor Abbott’s actions are impacting people’s jobs, and the livelihoods of hardworking American families.”