By Paul J. Weber
Associated Press
The governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, revoked this Friday the order of inspection of cargo trucks that obstructed the transit of commercial vehicles on the border between the United States and Mexico, after a week of traffic jams and great economic losses.
The Republican president withdrew from his rules that required all commercial trucks coming from Mexico to undergo additional inspections with the express purpose of stopping the flow of migrants and drugs, a measure that sharpened his dispute with the government of the president, Joe Biden, about its immigration policy.
Some truckers reported waiting more than 30 hours to cross
.
In protest, others blocked one of the world's busiest commercial bridges for more than a day.
A line of trucks waits to cross the Pharr-Reynosa International Bridge;
on April 13, 2022, in Pharr, Texas.Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images
Abbott, who will seek re-election in November and who has made the border his main issue, completely lifted the inspections after reaching agreements with neighboring Mexican states, which, according to him, outline new commitments on border security.
The last one was signed this Friday with the governor of Tamaulipas, Francisco García Cabeza de Vaca, who stated this week that the inspections were excessively rigorous and caused havoc.
On Thursday, it reached agreements with the governor of Chihuahua, María Eugenia Campos Galván, and the governor of Coahuila, Miguel Ángel Riquelme Solís.
He had previously done it with Samuel García, president of Nuevo León.
[“I yelled at him but I never saw him again”: this was the agony of a migrant family until they found their missing son in the Rio Grande]
When Abbott ordered the inspections to be carried out, it did not specify that their lifting was conditional on those agreements with the Mexican states.
Pressure was mounting for Abbott to back down as the gridlock at the border deepened and discontent grew from businessmen and local communities.
The second bus with migrants from Texas arrives in Washington DC and the governor of Florida threatens them
April 14, 202201:10
The American Truckers Association called the inspections "wholly flawed and redundant," adding that they "added a significant burden to an already troubled supply chain."
The border between the United States and Mexico is crucial to the economies of the two countries
, and much of it is in Texas: approximately 1,931 kilometers, which represents more than any other state.
Last year, the United States imported products worth 390.7 billion dollars from Mexico, a figure second only to China.
[A relative talks about the Mexican woman who died hanging from the border wall]
Abbott announced the inspections after the Biden Administration confirmed that it would stop enforcing Title 42 at the border as of May 23, opening the door to asylum claims from possibly thousands of migrants from around the world, but primarily of American Center.
The Republican governor called the inspections a “zero tolerance policy for unsafe vehicles” brought in by migrants.
Anticipating an increase in the number of migrants arriving at the border, he announced the inspections and other measures as a response to the end of restrictions on asylum.
"It represents millionaire losses," says the governor of Chihuahua on the stoppage of trucks at the border
April 14, 202201:39
State troopers inspected more than 6,000 commercial vehicles in the past week, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Nearly one in four of the stopped trucks were cited for driving violations with defective tires and brakes.
The agency did not say it found migrants or drugs during the inspections.
