| Nuevo Leon Gov. Samuel Garcia and Greg Abbott sign deal to ease vehicle inspections at Laredo. Capitol Inside photo |
Abbott Cuts Deal with Mexican Gov
to Have DPS Back Down in Laredo Capitol Inside
April 13, 2022
Governor Greg Abbott claimed to score a major victory in a war against drug cartels on Wednesday when he agreed to relax commercial vehicle inspections at international bridges in Laredo in a deal that he struck with a Mexican counterpart with a promise of stepped up border security on the south side of the Rio Grande.
Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel A. García and Abbott teamed up at a press conference at the Colombia Solidarity Bridge in Laredo where they signed a memorandum of understanding on the Mexican state implementing border security measures to stem the tide of illegal immigration into Texas.
Abbott said that he expects governors from the three other Mexican states that border Texas - Tamaulipas, Coahila and Chihuahua - to negotiate similar arrangements that would prompt the Texan to pull back on truck inspections at other ports of entry from the Rio Grande Valley to El Paso.
"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 an email after the ceremonial event with Garcia. "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. This historic memorandum of understanding between Texas and Nuevo León is a major step in the Lone Star State's efforts to secure the border in the federal government's absence.”
Abbott played down the stranglehold that he's had on traffic, trade and commerce in border cities and beyond with an order last week that required the Department of Public Safety to inspect every truck that crosses the border at Texas ports. Abbott argued that extended delays were a small price to pay in a battle to stem the tide of illegal border crossings while delivering a crippling blow to the narcotics industry that operates on both sides of the Rio Grande.
Garcia - speaking in choppy English - gave the impression that the Texas border snarls had prompted him to seek a truce in order to get traffic flowing again and to keep the Lone Star State as a top trading partner. But the pact that the Abbott and Garcia inked will have no effect on the chaos, disruptions and setbacks to the state, national and local economies that the Texas governor's political maneuvering has spawned.
"Abbott backed down in Laredo because the people of Texas forced him to," Democratic gubernatorial challenger Beto O'Rourke declared in a Twitter post this afternoon. "Let’s keep up the pressure to end his job-killing, inflation-spiking chaos at every other Texas port of entry.
Republican Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller called on Abbott on Tuesday to put an immediate halt to the inspections as a consequence of their disastrous effect on the state and national economy. Abbott said at the press conference today that Miller didn't know what he'd been talking about.
Abbott used the photo op with Garcia to announce that the first busload of migrants who'd been apprehended in Texas arrived today in Washington D.C. The travelers were dropped off at the Fox News headquarters several blocks from the nation's capital. Abbott said that two dozen migrants had made the trip. The governor did not mention, however, that the migrants who were dropped off in D.C. all wanted to go there at Texas expense. One told a local television station that he has friends in the Washington D.C. area and wasn't going to pass up on a chance for free transportation and meals during the journey from Texas.
more to come ...
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