Gov. Greg Abbott said the state police would no longer inspect all trucks coming from one Mexican state after officials there agreed to increase border security.
Gov. Greg Abbott of Texas said on Wednesday that days of snarled traffic on the border, caused by new safety inspections he ordered last week, were part of a concerted effort to force Mexican officials to do more to stop the flow of migrants into the United States. Ratcheting up the stakes in a clash over immigration that has tangled trade routes into Texas, Mr. Abbott said he would end the inspections only at one entry point — the bridge between Laredo and the Mexican city of Colombia, Nuevo León — and only because the governor of that state had agreed to increase border security on the Mexican side. The Texas police, Mr. Abbott said, would continue to stop all trucks coming from other Mexican states for safety inspections, despite increasing pressure from truckers, business groups and officials from both parties who are calling for an end to the delays that have stretched for hours and even days and sharply limited commercial traffic. “Clogged bridges can end only through the type of collaboration that we are demonstrating today between Texas and Nuevo León,” said Mr. Abbott, a two-term Republican up for re-election this year. The announcement marked a shift in Mr. Abbott’s public description of the safety inspections he ordered last week, an acknowledgment that they were a means to exert political pressure, both on Mexican officials and on President Biden. “The goal all along has been to ensure that people understood the consequences of an open border and that Texas isn’t going to tolerate it anymore,” Mr. Abbott said. In a statement on Wednesday, Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, called the inspections “unnecessary and redundant” and said that “the continuous flow of legitimate trade and travel and C.B.P.’s ability to do its job should not be obstructed,” referring to blockages at Customs and Border Protection facilities.
